Unsettling Futures
by Cardinal Syn
Summary: Four friends fell asleep in Bremerton, WA, and awoke in a foreign Inn being attacked by vampires - and one is kidnapped! Are the Markus Brothers as good natured as they appear? Will a girl's kindness bring her tragedy at the hands of D? VHD Bloodlust AU Rating changed to M due to scenes of violence and mild sexual content.
1. Nightmares Come True

****

Unsettling Futures

**By Jamie Carlson  
(a.k.a. Cardinal Syn)  
Chapter One: **  
"Nightmares Come True"

Yawning tiredly, Lilium Noir crawled into bed. She eeped as Kaiou Elios rather rudely pulled the bedspread out from under her, stealing it for her own use. The brown-haired Lilium glared balefully at the red-head, but was ignored as Kaiou curled up on the right side of the bed.

Lilium wiggled under the covers, and watched the lighter-brown-haired Tsukai Hitonokono, the only male in the room (which didn't really matter since he was gay and all) worm his way into his sleeping bag.

"I'm _really _tired," Nida Richards complained as she settled down on the mattress on the floor to the left of Lilium's bed.

"No wonder," Kaiou retorted. "It's almost five in the _morning_, and we're _just now going to bed._"

"Yeah, I know," Nida said, stretching. She looked around at everyone. "Umm, could you turn the lights off and not look at me so I can _change? _Thank you." Much rustling was heard after Tsukai turned the light off, and then Nida continued. "Anyway, like I said, I know. But I'm more tired than normal - I don't even feel like making you guys ask me questions!" Lilium blinked at this.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah."

"You won't be saying 'Ask me a question?' over and over again?"

"Nope, I don't think I will." Nida replied merrily as she settled down on the mattress laying on the floor.

"Uhh… Good? I suppose…" Lilium said. But almost before she was done speaking, Nida's snores filled the room. One by one, the four friends fell asleep in the bedroom they shared at Nida's dad's house.

And one by one, they were stolen away, whisked away to a land unknown, a future never to be realized.

When they awoke, it wasn't to chirping birds and the sluggish gray mornings of Bremerton, Washington winters. It wasn't to Nida's dad greeting them all with things like "It's awake!" and "So where are the other two?" (or three, or "Where's the other one?" depending on who got up and who was still asleep). It wasn't to the normal "call of nature" that usually roused even the most determined to sleep longer than everyone else.

When they awoke, it was to muffled shouts outside their room. It was to banging, as if someone was hammering doors shut, or trying to wake the occupants on the other sides of those doors. It was to the sounds of strange men and women, whose voices none of them had ever heard before.

And strangest of all, it was to finding themselves looking a little different than they had when they fell asleep.

The first to awaken was Lilium, and Kaiou awoke only moments after. Lilium lay still, her heart pounding, knowing _something _was wrong. But not _what_.

Lilium frowned and wriggled. The mattress wasn't as comfortable as normal…. It was always a tad too firm, but it wasn't so.. _lumpy._ And the blankets felt funny on her bare legs….

Wait. _Bare legs?!_ She had gone to bed wearing pajama bottoms and a t-shirt. Why were her legs bare?!

Weird blankets.

Lumpy bed.

No pants.

_Something was dreadfully wrong._

"Kaiou -"

"I know." Kaiou's voice was sharp, and she sounded annoyed and frightened. "There is no mattress under me, and I'm wearing pants. Something weird is going on."

"Did you steal my pants and shove the mattress under the bed in your sleep?" Lilium asked. She was hopeful. That was weird, but not as frightening as the other thoughts that came to mind.

"No."

"Oh…"

"What are you guys talking about?" Nida muttered groggily.

"Who took my sleeping bag?!" Tsukai shouted, angry at having awoken to find his precious dark blue sleeping bag gone.

"Whoever took my pants!" Lilium snapped. She blushed, aware of only wearing what felt like some sort of nightshirt made of cotton and her underwear. From what she could tell, the nightshirt barely covered her thighs.

"….. Why am I _wearing_ pants?" Nida demanded.

"Maybe _you _took my pants…" Lilium ventured weakly.

"Nope, your pants are too girly for me. Plus, why would I want to see your underwear?" Nida replied logically.

"Good point," Lilium replied. She reached to her left, groping for the small dresser and its lamp that went there. Her groping hand met air, and was soon swatted by Nida.

"Keep your hands on the bed!"

Lilium pulled her hand away, and plopped onto her back, staring at the darkness of the unlit ceiling. She waited for her eyes to adjust to the darkness. Normally, she would have given up after a few moments, but to her surprise, the room wasn't as dark as she had thought.

"Hey…Did you leave the blinds open?" she asked.

Nida sat up, and looked about the room. She had excellent night vision, and saw immediately that this was _definitely_ not the spare bedroom at her dad's house.

"Hey, where the hell are we?!" she demanded angrily, standing up. She brushed her short, boyishly cut black hair back irritably. "Wood plank walls? And the ceiling's too high! And there's only one window, and this room is WAY too big…! WHAT THE HELL?!"

Tsukai was up now, heading toward the wall near the door, groping for a light switch. Again came the pounding sound, only it was on _their_ door now.

"OI!" a gruff male voice cried from the other side of the door. It creaked open. Shrieking, Lilium clutched the covers to her chest.

The man, a grizzled, gray-haired old innkeeper, looked about the room briefly.

"All four o'ya in 'ere?"

"Yeah…" Tsukai said uncertainly.

"Good. Get dressed, an' c'mon down t'the cellar. _They're_ riding through town!" The man's gruff voice was tinted with foreboding, and Lilium felt a shiver run down her spine. After the man shut the door, forgetting her usual embarrassment when it came to showing skin, she leaped out of bed, identified the dresser to her right, opened the drawer, and started pulling out clothes.

"What are you doing?" Tsukai asked.

"Getting clothes…" Lilium mumbled. She yanked out a white bundle of cloth, found arm and head holes and yanked it on. It was a white floor-length dress, with blue and silver ribbon tying the front together. She found a silver belt to gather the skirt's folds around her waist.

"There's a lot of clothes in here… It's like we brought it all with us…" Lilium mumbled, somehow managing to put take the nightshirt off under the nearly skintight dress.

Nida had found the lights. They were dim and old-looking electric lights, like what they had when electricity was first discovered. The four teens quickly dressed and made themselves at least halfway presentable, then nodded to each other.

Tsukai and Nida went out first, then Kaiou and finally Lilium. A maid was waiting outside. She beckoned for them to follow her, and the four did so, still confused as to what was happening.

Nida looked more like a boy than Lilium could ever remember seeing her, and the maid kept referring to her as "sir". When she asked for their names, Nida said "Alex", apparently enjoying the moment of confusion. She grinned broadly and shrugged at Lilium's questioning look and Kaiou's eye rolls.

The maid lead them into the cellar, where twenty other people ranging from children to adults as old as the innkeeper had gathered.

Before she stepped down into the darkness of the cellar, Lilium looked about her. They were in the storage room full of boxes and packages, and the innkeeper was speaking to someone near the doorway.

Lilium's breath caught in her throat, her eyes widening.

The man the innkeeper was speaking to was tall, much taller than Lilium's height of five-eight, almost five-nine. The man was taller by almost a foot. He was dressed in black form-fitting armor and a black cloak, a very long, slightly curved sword strapped to his back. A wide-brimmed hat cast a shadow over his eyes, but Lilium could see his sensual mouth, and elfin chin and ears. He was as pale as moonlight, and locks of wavy chestnut hair framed his face and rested on his shoulders. He was beautiful, more beautiful than any man Lilium had ever before seen.

_He's so… so _beautiful_…_ she thought. _Almost… unearthly…._

Lilium would have been content to keep staring at the man, but Tsukai grabbed her wrist, yanking her arm irritably.

"Lil! Come on!" he snapped, dragging her into the cellar. "Whatever's going on, it's not good - you don't have time to sit and gawk at cute guys!"

"Why not?" Lilium hissed back, annoyed, her voice barely above a whisper. "You do it all the time!" Tsukai didn't reply as the innkeeper was shuffling past them, but he glared angrily at Lilium, his left eye twitching.

Even as the cellar door began to close behind them, Lilium had the strangest feeling that someone was looking at her. She turned, and caught the faintest glimpse of the man in black armor. He was facing the door. Had he been looking at _her_…?

Nida was talking to a young man near the back. Lilium blinked as she listened to the conversation - Nida seemed to be hiding the fact that she was a she. She seemed to be making her voice sound deeper, and had taken to wearing a very loose brown jacket over her white buccaneer shirt. The soft brown pants she had donned also were loose enough to allow her to be androgynous.

Kaiou was enjoying the admiration of a few other young men. Where Nida was gathering information through blending in, Kaiou was simply basking in the admiration of a bunch of cute guys. They made comments on her coppery hair and pale, lightly freckled skin, her tawny eyes that seemed to match the lightness of her hair, and her green velvet dress - as well as the curves beneath the dress.

Tsukai went and looked out the single ground-height window. He had to stand on tiptoe, as the window showed the ground level of the world outside of the cellar. He saw the dark shapes of a few houses, all of which were silent. He guessed that the word had spread, and everyone was hiding from _Them_. Whoever _They _were.

Lilium hugged her arms to her torso, holding her elbows. She stepped lightly over to the innkeeper.

"Sir, why did that man in armor stay outside? Shouldn't he be in the cellar with us?" she asked softly. The innkeeper looked her over silently for a moment, then seemed to weigh the options of telling her or not telling her in his mind.

"He's a Hunter. If any o'the creatures seek t' c'm inta our inn, he'll be a-waitin' for 'em." The innkeeper glanced out of the cellar window, frowning a bit as Tsukai grasped the bars and tried to wiggle them. "Them bars ain't commin' out fer no normal man, lad, 'specially not one as puny as you! Give up!"

Trying not to laugh as Tsukai slinked away, his face red, Lilium thanked the innkeeper for sharing that little bit of information with her. Although she didn't know what the "creatures" were, she knew enough about books and legends to guess.

The only things she could think of that required "hunters" to kill were Werewolves and Vampires. And since werewolves didn't ride horses, she figured it had to be the latter.

As if they all shared some sort of bond on the psychic level, the four teenagers quickly converged in one dark corner of the cellar, away from the other people, to converse.

"Vampires," Nida and Lilium said in unison. Lilium gestured for Nida to continue before Kaiou could start asking questions.

"I found out that every once in a while, a vampire count named Meier Link rides through the town. When the villagers are fortunate enough to find out," Nida said, gesturing around the cellar, "Everyone gathers in their cellars, or in this cellar her in the Inn if they don't have one at home.

"Tonight, they were fortunate enough to have a Vampire Hunter pass through," Nida said, jerking her thumb at the door. "Geoffrey over there says his name is D, and he's a dung pile or something like that."

"Dunpeal," Lilium corrected. "I'm guessing that's _dhampir_, but in this region's dialect, it's said _dunpeal_."

"What does that mean, though?" Tsukai asked.

"It means he's half vampire himself."

"So isn't that _dangerous?_" Tsukai asked, shocked. "I mean, wouldn't he just _help_ the vampires?"

"Did you miss the part where I said he's a _Hunter_?" Nida replied, condescending. "MY guess is, he doesn't _like _vampires."

"Probably emotional issues," Lilium mumbled distractedly. She was looking at the stairs and door that lead back out into the storage room. Did the man called D still stand there? Or had he went to the front of the building? Was he standing sentry at the only way Lilium could think of to gain access to the humans, or would he stop any vampires that would try to come in from the outside?

"_Everything_ is emotional issues with you!" Kaiou scoffed.

"No.. I mean, think about it," Lilium said, turning back to her group of friends. "Dhampir are half-vampire, as I said before. They have the night vision, strength, senses of a vampire… Sometimes their powers as well. Even a very, _very _long lifespan - almost an eternity. But they'd be shunned; most humans hate them, even others of the Vampiric kind. The vampires see the human blood as the Dhampir's curse, and the humans see the vampire blood as a curse. It's a two-way street… to loneliness."

"… Lil, you need a life. I mean, really. And you think about this stuff in your spare time?" Kaiou said, staring at Lilium. Lilium stuck her tongue out at her red-haired friend.

"Look! The carriage of Meier Link!" a villager cried.

The people in the cellar all crowded around the window, straining to look out and catch glimpses of the carriage. It was a fancy, olden times carriage of black, with six black cybernetic horses pulling it, their red eyes flaring in the night.

Lilium and her friends hung back, none of them liking strangers enough to get poked and prodded and possibly _groped_ just so they could try and see the carriage of the guy that they were supposedly hiding from. Lilium leaned against the wall, Tsukai next to her. Nida frowned at the crowd, and Kaiou walked along the edges of it.

After what felt like an eternity, the sound of the horses' hooves and the rattling wheels of the carriage died away. The innkeeper went to the door and unlocked it.

The moment the door swung open, darkness flowed into the room, blotting out the candlelight from the lanterns on the walls. Several women screamed, Lilium included, having very poor night vision and being _very_ afraid of the dark.

The sound of shouting, the odd twang of a samurai's sword, and the nigh-blanket fell. The Hunter, D, stood over the body of a vampire male, his sword outstretched. He was only feet from Lilium, and she felt a surge of power emanating from him.

"Lock the door!" D commanded. "They are not gone! They are still out there!"

Lilium shivered at the sound of his voice. It was deep, nearly monotonous in its tone, and it wielded power. Seeing that no one had bothered to heed his command, Lilium went to the door herself. She dashed up the steps, reaching out to swing the door shut.

"No!"

D's cry came too late. Lilium gasped as a strong, clawed brown hand reached through the door way and caught her wrist. With a trill of fear, she was dragged out of the cellar and lifted off of the ground. She looked up into yellow eyes nearly covered by shaggy hair before she was snatched up and thrown the arms of a beautiful woman with amazingly long and wild green hair in a skintight green outfit. The woman smiled at her, a lopsided smirk.

Suddenly very, very afraid, Lilum let out a final shriek before being knocked unconscious by the woman in green.

_"**NIIIIDAAAAA!**"_


	2. The Brothers Markus

**__**

"**_NIIIIIDAAAAAA!_**"

Nida blinked and looked around, wondering what the hell was going on. "Eh? Who called my name?"

The black-dressed man, D, came over to her. "Your name is Nida?"

"Yeah?"

"Your friend has just been kidnapped by vampires," D said softly.

"Huh?" Nida asked in bewilderment. "Who?"

"The brown-haired girl in a white dress."

"What? I don't know anyone wearing a white dress. Must have been someone else." Nida started looking around. "Where's Lil?"

"…." D's silence was impatient. "Your brunette female friend wearing a white dress was kidnapped," D said firmly. "She called your name as she was taken away."

"Really?" Nida gaped at him.

"Yes."

Tsukai chose that moment to run over, screaming.

"NIDA! They took Lilium!"

"WHAT!" Nida cried in disbelief. She turned to D angrily. "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?!"

D remained silent, his anger only visible in the way his lips drew together into an angry line.

"Thou' that was yer friend," the innkeeper muttered, moving over to them. "She's either gonna end up dead, or she'll be turned."

"No!" Tsukai replied stubbornly. "She wouldn't let them kill her!"

"Like she'd have much of a choice," Kaiou snapped. She looked just as angry as she was worried.

"Damn…." said Nida.

Unsettling Futures

By Jamie Carlson

(a.k.a. Cardinal Syn)

Chapter Two:

"The Brothers Markus"

In the town of Gaelin, Nida Richards stood outside of the Inn. Tsukai stood to her left, his face tearstained. Kaiou stood to her right, her arms folded, frowning in thought. The dawn would be breaking soon.

"So where exactly do you think they took her?" Nida asked. A shadow nearby, the dark figure that was D, replied.

"I don't know. There are many abandoned castles and resting houses in this area; he could be heading to any one of these," D replied, his tone monotonous. If he was concerned for Lilium at all, it wasn't outwardly obvious. Nida doubted that he cared.

"What do we do? We _have_ to save her!" Tsukai said, sniffling.

"She's probably already dead," Kaiou snapped. Nida gave her a look.

"Well, you don't need to say that!" Nida replied.

"Well, it's probably **true**," Kaiou retorted. Tsukai glared at her evilly.

"You still don't need to say it!" he said angrily.

"Your friend may be right," D said softly from the shadows. "But you can still try and find her."

"I don't suppose you'd be willing to save her for free?" Nida asked D, somewhat hopeful.

"No."

"Didn't think so." She snapped her fingers in disappointment. "Damn. Oh well." She instantly became cheerful. "We can find her ourselves!"

"And how do you propose we do _that?_" Kaiou said derisively. "We don't know where she is or where they took her."

"Hey, they can't stop their carriage or their horses from making tracks," Nida said defensively. "We could try to follow their trail."

"On foot?"

"We can buy horses."

"With what money?"

"We can sell our spare clothes."

"We NEED those clothes, Nida. We didn't ah.., bring… Many."

"Fine! We'll sell Tsukai-kun into slave labor and that will get us at LEAST a horse and enough money to get us some traveling food -"

"YOU ARE NOT SELLING ME!"

As an argument between the three ensued, the innkeeper took D aside, and he began to speak to the solemn vampire hunter.

"… They need help." The innkeeper spoke softly, so that only D could hear him.

"It is none of my business," D said with a frown.

"I know. Yeh c'n at least _help_…. Give 'em some pointers."

"There is nothing I could tell them to help them."

"…. If _I _paid yeh, would yeh go an' find th'girl?"

"No. You don't have enough. Meier Link is powerful. He has hired the Barberois to protect him; those were Mashira and Caroline, two of their most powerful. I wouldn't take any less than one hundred million." D spoke calmly, his voice soft and low.

"… I 'ave five hundred thousand," the innkeeper offered.

"I said no." This was met with an exasperated sigh of sheer annoyance.

"Fine!" the innkeeper snapped. "Let tha' poor lass die or be changed; hell, let 'er be used to produce more Dhampir!" the innkeeper growled as he seethed. "Bu' don' come cryin' ta' me when you find yerself finally up against Meier Link, an' that girl is one o'his bodyguards!"

D watched the innkeeper's back as he trudged over to Nida and her friends, whose argument had ended in Kaiou agreeing to 'rent' Tsukai out to a wealthy old pervert until they came back with Lilium. The innkeeper told them he would lend them two horses; two of them would have to pair up. He would also lend them saddlebags, and some food. But they would have to return whatever was left when they found their friend.

D knew that the old innkeeper had no hope of seeing the three or his wares again. Not because they would be dishonest and keep his things; but because he was certain they would all fall to the vampire's wrath, or any one of the myriad of ways to die when out traveling in the post-apocalyptic world beyond Gaelin.

Frowning to himself, D walked away as the sun rose over the horizon.

» » » » » » » » » » » » « « « « « « « « « « « «

"Wow…. Thanks a lot!" Tsukai said, bouncing. "I'll go pack our stuff!" He took the proffered saddlebags from the innkeeper's wife and dashed to their room (accidentally going into the wrong rooms and walking in on several people getting dressed or doing random morning routines in the process).

"You know… We probably won't live through this," Nida said to the innkeeper, serious. "_Or_ find our friend for that matter."

"Have faith," the innkeeper's wife said softly. "You have to."

Nida was about to reply when the ground started to tremble, and a loud rumbling could be heard.

"Earthquake?"

Not quite.

A huge metal tank of a design Nida had never seen before, engine roaring, pulled up to the inn, its metal bathed in scarlet light from the rising sun. The hatch on top opened up with the squeal of rusty hinges, and an extremely large man with shaggy black hair pulled himself out of the tank. He dropped to the ground heavily, checking his gear. A lit cigar was hanging out of his mouth.

He was followed by an even bigger man with dark skin and a bald head, a white cross painted on his face, and an impossibly large silver hammer strapped to his back. Next came a scrawny looking guy with wild red hair pulled into a braid in the back, who leaped to the ground nimbly.

Last to emerge was a woman dressed in an unusual red leather bodysuit with an equally odd jacket. Her hair was blonde and close-cropped.

Nida and Kaiou watched the four with piqued interest. This place was strange, wherever it was, and they had met some pretty odd characters in the short time they had been awake. But these four were the icing on the cake.

The black-haired man walked over to the innkeeper, glancing at Nida and Kaiou briefly.

"Name's Borgov Markus. Did a black carriage drawn by six black cyber horses come through here last night?" the man said, his voice deep. He spoke around his cigar with a skill that had been acquired from many years of doing the same.

"Yeah," the innkeeper said, suspicious. "Why d'ya ask?"

" 'Cause we're trackin' the bastards," the red-haired man said, answering for Brogov. "We're the Markus Brothers - vampire hunters." The innkeeper frowned a little.

"So.. _The _Markus Brothers… Huh. What're ya chasin' 'im for?"

"An old man believes that Meier Link may be after his daughter, Charlotte. We've been hired to kill him before he can lay his hands on her," Borgov said lazily.

"Well, yer about' two hours behind 'im."

"Damn.. All right, ladies, back in the tank!" Borgov thundered. The other three immediately did as ordered, and the tank roared to life once more.

Nida, Kaiou and the innkeeper had to dart out of the way of the huge tank to keep from being run down.

_Interesting,_ Kaiou thought.

"Ready!"

Tsukai was trudging toward them, four saddlebags dangling from his arms. The stable boy and the innkeeper's wife brought out two cyber horses. A tan thoroughbred with a blonde mane and tail took the two lightest bags and Kaiou and Tsukai, and a shire took the two heaviest bags and Nida.

"Thanks again!" Tsukai called as the three rode out of town, the same way the Markus Brothers and Meier Link's carriage had gone before.

"We're in luck!" Nida called, as they tried to keep the horses near enough to speak to each other. "With those vampire hunters, the Markus Brothers, in that hugeass tank, it should be easy just to follow THEM to wherever Lilium is!"

"Who're the Carcass Brothers?" Tsukai yelled.

"MARKUS!" Kaiou corrected. "A bunch of vampire hunters, like Nida said. They're the ones who own that tank that came through town."

"OoOooOohh..!" Tsukai replied, understanding.

"The red-haired guy was kind of cute," Kaiou commented after a long silence.

"Eew, no he wasn't!"

"The chick was hot, though," Kaiou said, not feeling like arguing with Nida.

"Why was there a girl if they're the Maruks _Brothers?_" Tsukai said, frowning.

"Um, Markus Brothers Plus One Sister is to long and retarded to say?" Nida asked.

Tsukai stuck his tongue out at her, and she pulled a pair of pliers out of her pocket.

"Lean a little closer and I could probably grab your tongue with these," Nida said jovially.

"What the… Where the hell did you get the pliers?!" Kaiou asked.

"Dunno!" was Nida's cheerful reply. "Hey, look! Isn't that their tank?"

Nida and Kaiou slowed their horses, Tsukai leaning precariously to the side so he could see from behind Kaiou's form. The huge, cross-bearing tank was stopped near a long bridge, which looked out over a vast and swift-running river, hundreds of feet under it. The big man, Borgov, was out, looking toward them.

"Hey, is he pointing that thing at US?!" Tsukai cried. He thought he was right when a silver arrow whizzed past his head. He shrieked and tumbled off of the horse, only then seeing the shadowy creature behind him.

"EEP!" Tsukai cried, scrambling to his feet and hiding behind Nida's horse. Both of the cyber horses were fidgeting and whinnying, eyes rolling in fear. A figure in a black robe, with oddly painted white face and arms stood behind them, cursing angrily as he pulled the arrow out of his shoulder.

"Damn you!" he shrieked. The figure then melted into the shadows the trees nearby cast upon the ground, and was gone.

Nida looked from where the black-robed figure had been to Borgov and his tank. She urged her horse forward.

"Nice!" she called. Kaiou noted the way she deepened her voice.

"You're pretty stupid to be travelin' out on your own like that, with no protection," Borgov commented casually.

"Yep! But we're poor too, so couldn't buy weapons," Nida replied.

"Hmph. Well, I'm Borgov. Borgov Markus. And you three are?" Borgov asked, as the other two men clambered out of the tank to see what all the fuss was.

"I'm Alex Richards. That's Kaiou Elios," Nida said, pointing at her redheaded companion, "And the guy who shrieked so wonderfully girlishly is Tsukai Hitonokono." Nida dismounted.

"Hey, I saw you guys in town…. You and the chick anyway," the redheaded man noted. He looked Kaiou over. "Name's Kyle Markus. Anyway, were you guys _following_ us?" His tone was wary.

"Yes, actually," Kaiou replied. "Our friend was kidnapped by Fred Meyer or whatever his name was, and we couldn't afford to hire that D guy to go save her so we're going to try and do it ourselves."

"Weaponless?" the big, dark-skinned man asked, staring at her incredulously.

"Yep."

"Just the _three _of you?" Borgov looked Nida up and down, and something sparked in the depths of his black eyes. He grinned. "So.. _Alex…_ You guys were following us _why_?"

"Kaiou explained."

"She said your friend was kidnapped."

"_Yeah_, and you guys were _tracking_ Meier Link -" as she said the name she looked pointedly at Kaiou - "so we figured we'd follow you to where he was."

"Don't give me that look… _Alex._" Kaiou snapped.

"Shush!"

"Um… guys?"

"What, Tooskee-kun?"

"Why do you keep calling him _Tooskee?_" Kaiou snapped again.

"What? You do too!"

"I know. But Lilium wasn't here to complain about it, so I did."

"Lilium the name of your friend who was kidnapped?" Kyle asked, cutting in.

"Yesh," Tsukai responded.

"Well…. We could save her. For a price."

"Did you not hear us mention that we're _broke?_" Kaiou asked, staring at Kyle like he was an idiot.

"Hey! Would you guys get your asses back in the tank! We're going to lose track of them!" The voice was female, and came from within the tank. "Grove needs to talk to you about something, Borgov!"

"Yeah, just a sec!" Borgov shouted. He then looked at Nida, Kaiou and Tsukai again.

Three teenagers trying to go save their friend from a vampire, unarmed and unarmored. He grinned to himself.

"How about this. We loan you the weapons, and you guys can come with us - our price is that you don't get a cut in the deal we made to get rid o' Meier, and you have to help us kill any other nasties in our way," Borgov said, taking a puff from his cigar.

Nida looked at Kaiou, who nodded, and Tsukai, who shrugged.

"Okay."

"Well then. Welcome to the Markus Brothers, kids."

"Don't call us kids."


	3. The Vampire Lord: Meier Link

"What were you thinking?!"

"You need to feed to survive, master!"

"I am **aware** of that -"

"You will not take a human yourself and this journey taxes you! Even now you grow weaker! Master, you _must_ use the girl -"

"MASHIRA! I will not take the life of an innocence without due provocation! You had no right to kidnap the girl, you and Caroline both knew that!"

"But, Master! Please! You must not allow yourself to die so soon in the journey!"

The vampire Mashira referred to as "Master" turned away sharply, angry. "I will not use her!"

"Master, please," Caroline said, her smooth voice pleading. She sat atop the long table in the dining room of the great Resting House they had entered to hide from the daylight. Her long, amazingly thick locks of green hair were spread about her. To her left, lain out straight upon the table, was the girl she and Mashira had taken.

The girl was laying on her side, shoulder-length chestnut hair spread about under her head. Her cheek rested on the back of one hand, and the other was stretched out above her, just barely hanging off of the edge of the short side of the mahogany table. Her sides rose and fell with her soft breaths as she slept. A small amount of dried blood was visible on her temple, where Caroline had struck her.

"Take her back. Take her back to Gaelin _now_."

"Master, you know we cannot do that! Please - you must feed!" Mashira insisted, his golden eyes worried.

"I -"

"Mmm…." The two Barbarois and one vampire turned to stare at the girl. She shifted, then pushed herself into a sitting position. Caroline leapt from the table, and landed next to Mashira, who stood several feet away. The girl sat up, rubbing her eyes, then wincing as she gingerly touched the cut on her head. "Itai…."

The girl looked at them all with big brown eyes. "Hello."

****

Unsettling Futures  
By Jamie Carlson  
(a.k.a. Cardinal Syn)

**Chapter Three:  
**"The Vampire Lord: Meier Link"

Meier looked at the brunette. She blinked at him dazedly, as if trying to focus her sight. He frowned slightly - what if Caroline had damaged her sight somehow?

"What… what did he mean? You would die?" the girl asked. She was frowning now, looking at Meier with concern.

_Concern? For a vampire?_ he thought incredulously. _How.. can that be?_

"It is none of your concern. I apologize for my guards' horrid behavior - we will have you returned home as soon as we are able to do so," Meier said softly.

The girl looked down at the table she sat on, blinked, and began scooting forward. She reached the edge of the table, and as she set her feet on the ground, she realized the effects of the drugs Caroline had injected her with to make her sleep longer. Her legs gave way under her.

Before she could fall, Meier was by her side, catching her. The girl clung to his shoulders, leaning against him. She muttered to herself about hating it when her legs fell asleep. She still sounded a little dazed.

"Be careful - the drugs have only just worn off," Meier said gently, lifting her and placing her back onto the table. She released her hold on him and gripped the edge of the table.

"I see that…." the girl said, shaking her head to clear it. She looked at Meier again. The concern was still shining in her dark brown eyes.

"Is what the guy… Ah…?"

"Mashira."

"Ah. Is what Mashira said true?"

"… What do you mean?"

Meier could tell from the expression on her face that she knew he knew perfectly well what she meant.

"You haven't fed on anything… Or ah… any_one…_ and you need to… in order to live?" the girl asked softly. Her eyes met his. Meier stared back in silence, his crimson eyes expressionless. "Umm… This feels weird to say but…. If you don't… _kill_ me or anything, you're free to take as much as you need…."

Mashira, Caroline and Meier all stared at the girl in shocked silence. Human women offering themselves to vampire lords wasn't too uncommon, but the type of women who usually offer themselves were the less… _respectful_… kind. The girl seemed respectful enough, and didn't seem at all overly excited by the prospect. In fact, she looked a bit bemused at having offered her blood to the vampire.

"… Do you even.. .realize what you are saying?" Meier asked in disbelief. She smiled, shrugging.

"Pretty much."

"But how can you… I'm sorry, I haven't asked for your name…."

"Lilium Noir."

"Ms. Noir -

"Lil or Lili, or just Lilium."

"- Ms. _Lilium_…. Why would you wish to give me your blood to keep me alive? I am the vampire count Meier Link." He shook his head slowly, the beads strung into his white hair clinking. "Why would a human wish to give a vampire, especially one whom has kidnapped her, the means to survive?"

"You didn't kidnap me," Lilium said cheerily. "They did!" She pointed at Mashira and Caroline. "Mashira? And… Carmaline?"

"Uh.. Caroline."

"Oh! Caroline. Sorry. Anyway… I'm not entirely sure why. But I just know I don't want someone die when I can keep them from doing so," Lilium replied thoughtfully. Meier frowned lightly, and looked at her closely.

Lilium looked to be only seventeen or eighteen. Neither her eyes nor her voice indicated distrust of him, and the sheer innocence behind her offer stunned him. Meier felt his eyes stinging and tears of blood began to rise in his crimson eyes. He blinked them away before the girl or his guards could notice them.

"… Lilium. Are you afraid of me?" he asked softly. She looked up at him, her eyes and manner thoughtful.

"A little. I'm usually afraid of people when I first meet them," she replied with a shrug.

"Are you not afraid of what consequences may come of your offering me your blood?" Meier pressed, stepping closer to her. He stopped when his forward-drawn cloak brushed against the cloth of her white dress. Lilium blinked up at him, apparently a little surprised by the fervor in his voice.

"Of course I am, but if you're careful, it should be alright, yes?" Lilium asked. Meier stood there in silence for moments that stretched into eternity. Then, slowly, he turned to Mashira and Caroline.

"Leave us, please."

Mashira and Caroline bowed, and left the room quickly. As they left, Meier turned back to the girl. He lifted his right hand, and brushed her hair away from her throat.

"Are you sure you are alright with this?" he asked softly as he pulled her to her feet, supporting her with one inhumanly strong arm around her waist. She wrapped her own arms around him for more support, forgetting that he wasn't likely to drop her.

"Yup!" she replied cheerfully. Meier could sense a little fear in her, but she dampened it as she tilted her head to the side.

When Meier's lips touched her throat, he felt her shiver in response. Although she stiffened when his fangs gently pressed into her skin, she forced herself to relax. The bite hurt at first, but as she didn't resist, the pain was very brief….

» » » » » » » » » » » » « « « « « « « « « « « «

"The resting house has to be up ahead, less than a day's travel," Leila remarked, settling next to Grove's bed.

"Do you think they'll still be there when we get there?" Tsukai asked worriedly. Leila shook her head.

"We can only hope."

"Be a little.. kinder," Grove remarked weakly. Leila looked at him with a small frown.

"The kid's going to have to realize that the hope of getting his friend back unharmed is pretty dim," Leila replied, to which Tsukai visibly wilted. Tsukai's lip trembled, and he sniffled pitifully. Leila winced, hoping that he wouldn't start crying.

"…the squirrel said, 'Now who's going to eat all that good food?'"

Laughter roared from the driver's area of the tank. Leila shook her head.

"He's laughing at his own stupid joke again…" she said in annoyance, rolling her eyes. Then something about the laughter caught her attention. "Wait a minute - someone else is laughing?"

Nida was sitting in the seat next to Borgov's, laughing heartily, tears in her eyes.

"That stupid squirrel!" she chortled, clutching to her sides and gasping for breath. Borgov slapped her on the back, nearly sending her out the window.

"Yer okay people, Alex!" he guffawed. Nida grinned at him, wheezing a little from the force of the "companionable pat on the back."

Kaiou was busy leaning casually back in her seat while Kyle told her stories of his dashing and bravery in battles (usually excluding some of the more unfortunate incidences where he got his ass kicked and had to be saved by Leila or Borgov). She was practically aglow, attentive to his stories and believing every word.

"You're SURE he stopped at THIS resting house?" Nida asked, settling back in her seat. The big guy - Nida hadn't asked for his name yet - nodded solemnly.

"The tracks lead this way and the only resting house in the area is in the same direction."

"Deductive reasoning," Leila commented. Tsukai had stopped sniveling and was now asking Grove why he was so ill, marveling over the man's spectral powers.

"So, you can leave your body as a spirit of pure energy?" Tsukai asked excitedly. Grove nodded at him with a weak smile.

"Yes, but as you can see, it takes a lot out of me," Grove replied. He was a handsome man, but his young features had been aged harshly by the strain on his body and mind. He was thinner than even Tsukai, his skin pulled tight over the bones of his hands and his cheekbones. He was bundled up in a coat and scarf, and covered with a thick gray blanket, IV's attached to his arm. His little corner of the tank was full of medical items - mostly those required for resuscitation.

"You guys should get some sleep," Borgov commented. "It'll only be a few minutes before dusk when we get there, meaning we're up for quite a fight."

"Alrighties!" Nida replied, trudging to the back of the tank, nearly losing her balance as the vehicle hit a rough patch and jostled violently. She settled into the corner next to Kaiou, yawning. "Wake me up when we get there."

A few minutes later, Nida's ghastly snores filled the small tank. Oddly enough, they seemed to compete with the rumbling of the tank's engine, getting louder when they strained the tank going up a hill. Borgov chuckled to himself.

_That's one weird woman,_ Borgov thought. _Trying to hide the fact that she's a female… Well, her snores sure as hell don't sound lady-like!_

» » » » » » » » » » » » « « « « « « « « « « « «

Although Lilium was a little weakened by the draining, she was fine. Meier had taken very little of her blood, unsure as to how much she could stand to have taken from her. She now lay in his arms, head on his chest, sleeping soundly. Meier sat on an ornate chair at the head of the table in the dining room, the girl settled on his lap. The intimacy of the moment, lost on the sleeping girl, was profoundly touching to the vampire lord.

_She's quite something,_ he thought to himself with a small smile. _Willing to risk her own life to keep another alive - a total stranger doubled as a vampire at that._

Meier stood slowly, lifting the girl up in his strong arms. She shifted a little, snuggling against him as if seeking warmth, then settled back into her peaceful sleep. Using his unnatural grace to keep from jostling the girl, he left the dining room, ordering Mashira to prepare a room for the girl to sleep in. The werewolf bowed, then swiftly did as he was commanded.

Once Lilium was settled in a bed, Meier retreated to his own room to finish resting before their travel that night. He wondered what he would do with the girl. Should he take Lilium with him, or leave her hear? Or perhaps he should order Caroline or Mashira to take her back to Gaelin?

He sighed to himself, settling into his coffin. Meier closed his eyes and gave himself to the black, dreamless unconsciousness that was the vampire's sleep.


	4. Not Quite What I Had In Mind

"You snore to a rediculous extent."

Leila's blue eyes were fixed on Nida, who was currently stuffing a slice of dried meat into her mouth, although Lelia still believed her to be a male. Her appetite was ravenous, as were those of the other two passengers, Kaiou and Tsukai. Nida just belched.

"Ooh, I think that one was a seven."

Leila rolled her eyes, but a loud belly-laugh erupted from Borgov.

"Yeah, you tell 'er, Alex!"

Nida/Alex grinned boyishly. Kaiou sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Alright, everyone get ready. We're almost there... and it's about fifteen minutes to dusk," Borgov ordered, straping his mini crosbow to his wrist. The others started picking up their weapons and preparing for a battle.

Nida, Tsukai and Kaiou were given pistols, small wooden stakes, and knives. They were to stay back and attack anything that got too close to the tank. The hope was that Lilium would be inside, unharmed, and they could just snatch her and take her to the tank before Meier Link awoke.

Why do things never go as planned?

**Unsettling Futures**

**By Jamie Carlson (a.k.a. Cardinal Syn)  
Chapter Four: **  
"Not Quite What I Had In Mind"

Within the resting house, Lilium sat at the large dining table she had awakened upon, a meal of some unnamed vegetables and meat placed before her. She looked a little pale and worn, but otherwise fine. She admitted that after waking about two hours after giving her blood to Meier Link, she couldn't sleep - she was uncomfortable sleeping in a foreign bed and so far from her friends.

Lilium ate the food slowly, unsure if she liked its taste. The beastie she was eating was not one they likely had back home, not that she was going to admit to that. Mashira watched her silently from the shadows, against the wall to her right. His yellow eyes shone even in the darkness of the candle-lit, windowless room. A bite of the odd meat halfway to her mouth, Lilium stopped, and turned her attention to him.

"You _could_ come and sit down, you know. It's creepy being watched from the shadows like that."

Mashira didn't move. The girl's dark eyes watched him intently, and she slowly laid the fork back down, resting partly on her plate, the stem on the table.

"_Why_ are you staring at me?"

"To be sure you don't try to run off before the Master wakes."

Lilium sighed and pushed away from the table with some effort - the ornate chair was hard to move. She stood up, stumbling a little and catching herself on the table. Her head still hurt where she was struck. She touched the wound tenderly, feelnig the lump with cold fingers.

"Do you have.. anything.. medication or something.. for pain? The headache this bump is giving me is making me nauseous."

Mashira pushed way from the wall, gliding toward the girl with a smooth, yet feral gait. He grasped her chin firmly, ignoring her wide eyes and cry of protest. He turned her head to the side, gently, and examined the bite marks on her neck and the wound on her head.

"You do realize that even if we did hand you back to your friends, the Markus Brothers are likely to kill you now that you've allowed yourself to be bitten, don't you?"

Lilium blinked rapidly. Her thoughts were slow and sluggish around the pain in her head, but she tried to grasp an understanding of Mashira's words. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, I think you should accompanty the Master. You would be a good companion for Charlotte, once we have reached her, and you are less likely to meet a bloody fate if you go with him." He angled her so that he could gaze upon her face, Mashira's golden eyes meeting her brown ones. She had some form of understanding there, but she was wary. "According to Benge, your friends ride with the Markus Brothers, who are intent upon destroying Master Meier Link."

"My friends wouldn't harm me." She was certain, no fear, no lies, no doubt.

"But the Brothers Markus _will_. And so will the Hunter that was hired to kill Master Meier Link before he could reach his beloved, Charlotte." He felt a small beat of satisfaction as her eyes went wide with horror.

"He's going to _kill_ him? Is he a bad vampire?"

Now this surprised Mashira. He quickly released the girl and moved a few steps back. He watched her face. Did she really concede that there was a difference between a _good_ vampire and a _bad_ one? Did she really view them on a grayscale as she did humans? Such thinking did not exist within humans.. except within those such as Charlotte. So alike... innocent, open-hearted... The type of woman who could feel for, love, monsters...

Shaking his head at the unwelcome thought, Mashira turned away.

"The Master, as you saw last night, only harms humans who attempt to harm him. He is.. what you may call.. a _good_ vampire. Even that vampire hunter has the blood of more humans on his hands than the Master does."

"They were bad people, though, weren't they?" Again that solemn resolution. Eyes that saw a grayscale world and applied black and white ethics to it... innocence at its finest. Mashira turned back to her, and started. Her face had crumbled into an expression of deep sadness. Nonplussed, he moved toward her again, albeit only a step.

"So, because I did what I thought was right, there's a chance that if I stay here, I'll be killed?"

"Yes," Mashira replied uncertainly.

"What is this talk of being killed?"

The two looked toward the door leading back toward the halls and the sleeping chamber. Meier Link entered, resplendent in his black cloak. His dark eyes gazed at Lilium in concern, seeing her paleness and the expression of despair lingering in her dark eyes.

"Master, Benge has returend. He advises that the Markus Brothers have determined where we were headed, and picked up this girl's friends on the way," Mashira advised, bowing low. He looked over at Lilium, then back to Meier Link. "I fear I have caused you further distress, my lord... as it is now nearly certain, with her neck wound unhealed, she will be killed upon their arrival if they find her here. Furthermore, were the Vampire Hunter D to learn she gave her blood willingly..."

Meier Link frowned, his gaze lingering on the girl's throat. He nodded, slowly, solemnly.

"Until she heals... we must carry her with us. I fear the Hunters will all continue following us, until we have finally reached our destination..." He glided forward, footsteps nearly silent, shadow fainter than Lilium's on the floor. He placed a finger under her chin and tilted her head back so she was looking at his face. "Please forgive me. I assure you, I had not intended this."

"I think I should really be apologizing to myself... it was kind of airheaded of me, assuming that for once, a good deed... could go unpunished."

» » » » » » » » » » » » Ω « « « « « « « « « « « «

The Markus Brothers had been beaten to the punch, but only by about an hour. The Vampire Hunter D had just finished tracing the resting home, his left hand planted firmly against the surface of the enormous, glossy rectangular cube. His blue amulet gleamed in the light of the setting sun, and the hiden door revealed itslef to the countenanced carbunkle in his left hand.

"Found it!" the voice growled. "You can move me away from the wall now. What do you plan on doing about _them?_"

The Brothers Markus were approaching. Leila was riding some sort of motor cycle. They froze in their tracks at the site of the gorgeous youth in black.

"How the hell did you get here ahead of us?!" Kyle barked, readying his blades. There was no reply from D, who stood still as the resting house which he stood before.

Suddenly, he broke the silence.

"The carriage is coming out."

The door of the resting house slid open, and D leapt aside to avoid the onslaught of cyborg horses as the night-black transport burst from the resting house. Surprised, Kyle and Borgov let knives and arrows fly at the driver, a man with tanned skin, animal-like eyes and shaggy brown hair. Next to him sat the strange, white-faced man in black they had saved the three travelors from.

A woman wearing skintight green leather caught one of Kyle's blades in the shoulder. She grimaced, pulling the blade out and baring nasty fangs at Kyle as the carriage rolled past.

Leila screamed into the transmitter, "Alex! Kaiou! Tsukai! Try and stop that carriage! They're getting awa-Gah!" Leila was startled as a black figure whizzed by her - D, dashing past her and to his waiting horse, which he leapt onto, turned about, and urged after the carriage in one fluid motion. Grimacing, Leila spun her own bike around to give chase.

Back by the Markus Brother's tank, Nida leveled her pistol at the driver on the carriage, hoping to strike him. She pistol-whipped Kaiou on the head when she fired at the horses.

"Don't shoot the horses, they arne't the ones who kidnapped Lil!"

D raced past on his steed.

"Hey, I thought he wasn't going to help us! He's a liar!" Tsukai crowed, ignoring bickering Kaiou and Nida. He watched in awe as D leapt from his steed to the top of the carriage. Their figures dwindled off as Leila roared by on her motorbike.

"Well, shit," Borgov spat, coming up beside them. "That didn't go as planned. Kyle, check the resting house for anything useful then -"

Borgov was stopped by the humming sounds emitted from the building.

"Uh, Bro, I think the defenses are starting up." Kyle looked at him with alarmed eyes.

"Fuck! Get back in the tank and haul ass out of here!"

The four Markus Brothers clambered into the tank. Nida, Tsukai and Kaiou, after a moment of arguing, clambered up on their horses (which after some argument, Nolt let out of the back of the tank) and galloped along-side. They raced after D, Leila and the carriage.

» » » » » » » » » » » » Ω « « « « « « « « « « « «

Within the carriage, Meier Link sat in one of the lush seats. His coffin was in the center of the carriage, locked in place. The windows of the vehicle kept all light out, and he had rested enough for the night. As soon as full dark was upon them, if the vampire hunter was still set upon them, he would end up fighting himself.

He looked across the carriage, and wondered to himself if they were truly doing the right thing. Lilium sat in the carriage, eyes set but brimming with unshed tears, wanting, he knew, to burst from the carriage and run to her friends. He would not stop her if she tried, but he feared for her life. He did not own her mind - he had not taken it when he took her blood. But the hunters would not believe that.

"Are you at peace with this?" Meier asked in his low, gravelly voice. She looked at him, eyes haunted.

"Of course not. But I don't have a choice. My friends.. they would likely die trying to stop those so-called.. what.. Mario Brothers or whatever from killing me... I can't let that happen. So, I suppose I'm along for the ride... however long it lasts."

Meier elegantly moved from his seat to maneuver himself next to her, and took the girl in an embrace.

"You are risking your life, because you were kind enough to offer your blood to a weakened vampire... I cannot tell you how much that moves me," Meier murmured, a crimson tear staining his cheek.

"Don't waste the blood I gave you," the girl remarked, smiling, but tears shining in her own eyes. She wiped the tear away. "Your life is important - there's a girl waiting for you, according to Mashira. And she must be wonderful, to risk her life for love. So you need to get there safely. Okay?"

Meier's laugh was cut short by the sound of of a body landing on top of the carriage. He gritted his teeh, fangs bared, and hissed. He sensed the dhampir hunter atop the carriage. Lilium looked up, then pushed away from Meier and screamed as the tip of a long half-moon blade sliced through the side of the carriage, breaking the lock on the side door. It flung open, and the man from the town - the beautiful man in black, stood there, clinging to the side of the carriage, the speed of the movement whipping his cloak out behind him, his hat defying physics as it remained seated on his head.

Lilium's eyes met his, those pale, determined orbs, and she saw death in them. He held the carriage with his left hand, his sword in his right. She was between him and Meier. Meier would lose maneuverability in trying to go around both her and the stationary coffin, and D would risk harming her if he tried for a jab with his longsword. He moved his arm gracefully, and the bisected figure of Benge bounded from the carriage. Lilium squeaked and covered her mouth with her hands as the blood mist faded off in the distance.

D's eyes met hers.

"You've been bitten."

» » » » » » » » » » » » Ω « « « « « « « « « « « «

Author's Note: Yes! I killed of Benge early! I **hate** that little bugger.


	5. Duck, Duck, Bridge

"You've been bitten."

Lilium stared at him, brown eyes wide. How did he know? He'd only looked at her for a moment. How did he know?

"I assure you, hunter, it was not by force," Meier hissed, forced to lean back against the wall, fleeing from the small amount of light D's form allowed into the carriage. It was not yet dark outside, although dusk was approaching on silent wings. D ignored him, for now; he was disabled by the last beams of sunlight.

"Why did you let him bite you?" D's voice was dark, his eyes narrow. Lilium blinked at him with wide chocolate-brown eyes.

"The shaggy-haired man, Mashira, said he was going to die."

D remained still, the only movement the wind from the rushing carriage whipping his hair and cloak about him. Caroline and Mashira could be heard up top, arguing about what to do about D - if they knocked the man away from the carriage, the sun would shine in on Meier. But if they didn't, he may kill their Master with his half-moon katana.

"You should have let him die." D was unnerved by the conviction in his own voice. "He seeks to kidnap a girl from a nearby city and take her."

Lilium's face set, her lips pressed in a thin line.

"_Let_ him die?" she spat. She shifted forward, eyes earnest, leaning toward D. "What kind of person would I be... if I had the power to save someone's life, and I let them die? What kind of woman would that make me?"

"Sane."

"Oh, right, so killing people is sane now!"

"You cannot murder the dead."

"He's done nothing to me!"

"He is a vampire. That alone should be enough."

"What, and you're a half-vampire person! Should I leave you to die were I to find _you_ weak and dying?!"

D's eyes met hers. They remained that way, gazes locked, until...

A loud smacking sound filled the air and suddenly, much to Lilium's surprise, D was no longer in the doorway.

**Unsettling Futures**

**By Jamie Carlson (a.k.a. Cardinal Syn)  
Chapter Five: **  
"Duck, Duck... Bridge"

D's body flew through the air. He did a very acrobatic somersault, but, to his chagrin, he was still in shock from the impact. He hit the ground and rolled, landing in an unceremonious heap. He lifted himself up quickly, and was to his feet in moments. Unfortunately for him, he had an audience.

On the other hand, somewhat fortunately for D (or at least, his pride), he was not the only one guilty of... well.. not paying attention. Lilium's three friends were staring at a silent D, who was randomly clenching his left fist shut, although the rest of him seemed fairly relaxed. The Markus' tank drew closer. When the sound of tearing metal and a small explosion shook the bridge, all eyes were on the Markus' tank.

D, Tsukai, Nida and Kaiou turned slowly toward the tank. Nolt was clambering out of the opening on the top, his massive hammer strapped to his back, face flushed red. They could hear cursing and cries of pain from Grove from within the tank.

Borgov followed his brother out, landing roughly on the ground next to him. Borgov whirled on the taller man, clenching his cigar so tightly in his teeth it threatened to snap off at the end. He shoved a finger into the abashed-looking Nolt's broad chest.

"How the _hell_ did you manage to crash the damn TANK?!" Borgov growled. Nolt hung his head and rubbed the back of his neck with one massive hand.

"What the fuck was _that?!_" Nida cried in disbelief, reigning in her horse a few feet away from D. Her gaze flicked from D to the tank and back again.

From her vantage point, the Hunter had been clinging to Meier's carriage when they began to cross a bridge. The bridge was meant for the Noble's carriages - it was made of beautiful steel and marble, glistening in the setting sun in a wash of gold and red rays. D, however, was unmoved by its beauty. He was, on the other hand, _moved_ by the right-most support pillar. Or, it moved him. when his body slammed into it as the black carriage rolled onto the bridge. Mashira had guided them close enough to it to scrape the hunter off. For unknown reasons, the tank had crashed into the left pillar almost immediately afterward. The front was dented inward, but the pillar seemed undamaged.

Kaiou guided her horse into a trot and stopped it alongside Nida. She was somewhat speechless, staring at D, then at Nolt, and then D again, echoing Nida's movements.

"What I want to know is, how is _he _still moving after that? They had to have been going close to forty miles an hour when he hit the pillar!"

The roar of Leila's bike turned into a purr as she rolled in a bit closer to the Hunter. The engine was practically laughing at his folly.

"Not very impressive for a dunpeal hunter," Leila sneered. D made no comment, and avoided all of their eyes by watching the carriage. He returned his sword to its sheath on his back.

"Dhampir," Kaiou snapped. Nida threw her a look. "What?" Kaiou asked, defensive. "Lil isn't here to correct her! Besides, it isn't like her tank did much better!"

Leila glared at her, then turned those baleful blue eyes on the Brothers. Nolt cringed.

The three "guests" to this place stared at each other, faces frozen in expressions of disbelief, deaf to the cries from halfway across the bridge, whose length stretch nearly as far as a football field...

» » » » » » » » » » » » Ω « « « « « « « « « « « «

An agonized scream cut through the carriage.

"Meier!" Lilium cried, aghast as little bursts of flame started to spiral toward the roof of the carriage, spontaneously appearing on Meier Link's form. She leaned out the carriage, grabbing the door handle and pulling the door shut. It wouldn't latch in place, D having severed the locking mechanism.

"I-it.. burnsss..." Meier hissed, his crimson eyes glowing, face drawn tight with pain. The little bursts of flame stopped once Lilium was able to hold the door shut. She held it with one hand and rapped on the velvet-lined roof of the carriage with the other.

"Mashira! Please, stop, I can't hold the door shut and help him into his coffin at the same time!" she begged, wide, terrified eyes on Meier's pain-twisted countenance. The carriage slowed, then stopped. She heard the heavy weight of Mashira's body hitting the ground, and then he tapped on the other side of the door.

"Help the Master into his coffin," Mashira advised, voice muffled through the thick carriage walls. "I will hold shut the door."

Lilium, hands shaking, unlatched the lid of the coffin. Meier kept his cloak up over his face, breathing harsh. She choked on the stench of burned flesh as she shuffled around the coffin and to Meier's side.

"Here, Meier, let me help y- oh!" Meier collasped against her, his face buried in her neck. His lips were tightly shut, but she felt the press of his fangs against her throat. Fear tickled the back of her mind. "M-meier.."

"I.. Will be alright," he rasped. He pulled away, slowly, as if not trusting himself. "I'm sorry. My instinct.. I admit.. is to attack you... as you are weaker than I... and I am in immense... pain." His eyes were filled with tears as he moved away from her and heavily dropped himself into his coffin. The black lacquered lid swung closed without Lilium's aid, and locked. The last sight he saw before slipping into darkness to heal was Lilium's watery eyes, and her comforting smile.

» » » » » » » » » » » » Ω « « « « « « « « « « « «

The stunned faces of Nida, Tsukai and Kaiou were slowly crumbling into barely contained laugher. Finally, Nida started chortling, and that seemed to break the tension between her friends. Kaiou and Tsukai were clinging to each other, laughing, still perched on the back of their horse.

Nida pointed at Nolt and then D, not able to speak, tears falling from her eyes as she gasped for breath between each burst of laughter. Finally, she calmed herself enough to squeak out "You.. you guys... are too fucking.. dumb.. that was soooo... funny!"

"You _both_ crashed into the damn pillars! Like they're hard to see! They're like, thirty feet tall and half as big around!" Tsukai gasped, holding onto the saddle of the cyber horse he and Kaiou had been riding as if to keep himself from falling from the horse. D's own cyber horse took that opportunity to wander over and start feeding on the lush green grass growing around the pillar D himself had been crashed into.

A vein twitched in Borgov's temple as he looked back at his tank.. then at D.. then his tank... and slowly mirth started to appear as a sparkle in his dark eyes. His catterpillar eyebrows lifted slowly and he grinned broadly. He slapped Nolt on the shoulder and started laughing as well.

"Well, damn, if that don't just beat all! How stupid could we have been?" he chuckled. Nolt looked blank for a moment, then a grin broke out over his darkly tanned, blue-and-white painted face and he too began laughing. Kyle nimbly jumped down from the top of the damaged tank and landed next to Nolt in time to have one of Nolt's massive arms wrap around his shoulder and neck in a brotherly hug. Kyle chocked a bit and tried to push Nolt's arm away from himself.

Leila stared at them all in open disgust, then started. Another voice had joined the chuckling, which had finally started to die. It was punctuated by a brief cry fo pain, but started right back up again. It sounded like.. it was coming from .. D?

Tsukai stopped laughing and looked at D with a confused expression

"Did.. that raspy laughing noise come out of his ass" he cried in astonishment. D's face seemed to twitch, something akin to annoyance passing over his elfin features. A dark aura poured fout from him.

"Oh my god, no wonder he looks so pissed off all the time, he laughs out of his ass!" Kaiou blurted, staring wide-eyed at D. The miasma around him strengthened, and the horse she and Tsukai were on reared in fright. They fall off, Tsukai landing on Kaiou. She screamed, "GAAAAAH! OWWWW! Tsukai, your bony ass is digging into my leg! And you elbowed me in the boob!"

D opened his mouth as if to respond when the laughing from the area of D's waist seemed to pick up. An actual look of mild surprise registered in D's eyes as his left hand seemed to jerk up of its own accord.

D tried to curl his fingers inward, but they spread apart like the petals of some grotesque flower opening. The palm of his hand had become distorted and bumpy. It seemed to have a small opening in it. Soon, a face – a humanoid face! - was rising up through the surface of his palm.

Kaiou gasped and recoiled in horror, nearly stumbling as she tried to stand and stagger away from him. Nida leaned toward it curiously. Borgov and Nolt looked at each other, Kyle trying to edge by them so he could see what the fuss was about. Leila's eyes narrowed as she watched the cackling face open its tiny eyelids. D spoke not a word but seemed resigned to his fate.

"You have a face in your hand!" Tsukai pointed out, rather inanely, brushing dirt off of his trousers. The little face grinned.

"I'm not just a little face, kiddo. I can safely say I'm one of the most useful tools D has at his disposal. And let me tell you, this little bridge incident.. I just can't keep quiet, it's too much!" the left hand snickered, and D's skin seemed to stretch as it leaned forward and looked about at everyone. "I don't know what it is about D and bridges, but this kind of crap just keeps happening to him!"

"Ooh, do tell!" Nida insisted, crowding closer to D and his left hand. The others started crowding around him curiously.

Leila made a disgusted noise and turned off her motor bike. She returned to the tank and started climbing in, and could be heard telling Grove that everything was alright, they were all just being jackasses, hold and and she would back up the tank. The reverse lights powered on in the back and an annoying beeping filled the air as she revved the tank and tried to back it away from the pillar. The engine spluttered and died. Snarling, she reappeared at the top and tried to open the hatch to the damaged front. She glared in hate at the undamaged pillar.

The little face in D's palm leered at everyone. D looked down at it.

"I think you've done enough for today," D muttered, a dark miasma seeming to coalesce around him. The little face made a derisive sound in what one could assume was its throat.

"Ah, shutup for a minute – not that you're all that chatty to begin with; I haven't had an audience in close to three decades! Let me have my moment, Mr. Ingrateful," the hand snapped in a surprisingly deep and rusty voice. D frowned. "Now, where was I? Yeah. Yeah. D and _bridges_. You would think he's got a curse all the trouble he has with bridges! Just earlier in the week when D took money from that old man to find his daughter, there was a rickety little bridge over a pond. Now, mind you, these guys were pointing guns at him the whole time until he left – and this dog comes up and barks at D and is about to attack, and _somehow_ D manages to cut right through the supporting rope. SPLASH. Down we fall into a crappy little pond full of mud and only about an inch of water!"

Nida and Borgov began roaring with laughter. Borgov clapped her on the shoulder.

"Damn, Alex, can you believe that?!"

"Hell, Borgov, that was stupider than that dumbass squirrel!" They looked at each other and started laughing harder.

Warming up to his audience, D's left hand – of all people.. things.. whatever – started regaling them with many of D's bridge-related mishaps. Nolt produced what appeared to be previously cooked hunks of meat on sticks and handed them out to everyone as they listened.

Leila finally interrupted them, dragging Kyle over to the tank, giving him instructions to try and start it. She would keep working on the engine if it wouldn't start. The engine roared to life shortly after – D's left hand just talked louder to be heard over it. The reverse lights and beeping came back on.

D just stood there in silence while he endured their stupidity, then as the hand was in the middle of a sentence...

".. You know, I bet you his Da--- URK!"

D finally regained control over his hand. He curled his fingers inward and a cry of pain was heard. The left hand muttered something like "All right, I'll shutup, you abusive prick!" and fell silent. D's icy gaze fell on Nida.

"Enough."

He turned to leave.

Kaiou tch'd and called after him.

"Hey, hold it! Was Lilium in the carriage? HEY! I'm talking to you!"

D turned back, his eyes shadowed by the brim of his hat. Darkness was creeping up on them – visibility had been greatly reduced by this point, and one by one, small orbs of light began to appear, illuminating the bridge. The carriage was still in the center- Mashira and Caroline were milling about outside, but Kaiou couldn't make out exactly what they were doing. Nida's vision being better, she saw they seemed to be working on the door D had been clinging to.

Revving from the tank filled the silence as it continued to stretch on. Kaiou seemed to lose her will to speak as D glared at her in the oncoming darkness. Just as D's lips parted to speak, rumbling was heard under the tank. Screaming, Kyle abandoned the huge metal vehicle. The edge of the cliff leading down to the river – which was about three hundred feet down – had given under the weight of the tank. It began rolling down the sharp hill that lead to the water below.

Kyle hit the ground and rolled, then turned, eyes wide. "GROVE! NO!"

A faint cry could be heard as the tank rumbled away, somehow carried above the engines, yet weak in Grove's tired voice.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... "

Borgov whirled on Kyle.

"You left him IN there?!"

"Like I could do anything else!"

Borgov sighed and pointed at Leila's bike.

"Go and see if you can find a way down there! We'll have to head down manually. I doubt the carriage will be moving any time soon."

"But what if they -"

"I said GO, Leila, and goddamn it, you'll go!"

As they argued, D said something that the others couldn't quite catch and walked to his horse. Nida's eyes widened.

She marched up to him and grabbed the hem of his dark cloak. She glared at him.

"What the hell do you _mean_, she has to die?!" she snarled. Tsukai and Kaiou heard this, and scrambled over, Tsukai protesting loudly.

"Your friend has allowed herself to be ' kissed' by the noble."

"WHAT?! She let him KISS her?!" Tsukai cried, gaping. He turned to Kaiou. "Since when has Lil been such a slut?!" Kaiou sighed in disgust and rolled her eyes.

"He means he _bit_ her."

"She wouldn't let him do that!"

"She did."

D's cold voice ended their arguing. Tsukai turned to D, his face blanched. The sun was nearly hidden by the horizon now.

"She allowed herself to be bitten. At this point, she has two options. Renounce her allegiance to the vampire Meier Link and stand aside as I finish my job, or die." D mounted his horse, turning his back on the others, finished. Tsukai ran in front of his horse and threw his arms out, glaring at the Hunter darkly.

"I won't let you hurt her!"

"You won't have a choice."

» » » » » » » » » » » » Ω « « « « « « « « « « « «

Lilium climbed out of the carriage. Mashira was checking the door again, trying to figure out how to lock it. She stood in the coming night, dress washed in reds and golds from the setting sun. It set her brown hair aglow with a halo of red, lighting natural reddish highlights in the dark waves. She gazed at her friends in the distance, sadness in her heart. She could hear their laughter, carried on an evening breeze.

"Would he really kill me?" she whispered, to no one in particular. The beautiful Hunter. She realized in her mind that many a woman – and man – had been drawn to his tragic beauty and dark past, but none were ever given what the sought from him. Even so, her heart ached at the thought of the beautiful man's plight and conviction in his words.

"Probably," Mashira responded. He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"You should get back inside the carriage. Caroline has the ability to merge her body with other matter – she will hold the door shut until we reach the next resting house, where we can change the carriage out for another."

Lilium nodded, slowly. She hesitated, then returned to the carriage. She paused at the door, looking up at Mashira with hope in her eyes.

"He really loves Catherine, right?"

"Charlotte. And, yes."

"Then I'm doing the rght thing."

She climbed into the carriage. Mashira closed the door behind her. Caroline looked down at him from where she stood atop the black roof.

"We managed to find the Master quite the traveling companion."

"Is it just me, or did the Hunter seem to have trouble keeping his stoic face around her?" Mashira asked as Caroline sat on the edge, legs crossed. Her body began to melt into the carriage, taking on a black lacquered appearance. She smiled and disappeared into the material of the carriage. "I suppose she's more useful than we thought."

» » » » » » » » » » » » Ω « « « « « « « « « « « «

Author's Note: Happy fun times for all! Things are starting to get a little messed up for everyone. All will be explained and expanded upon.

Happy fun times cannot be had forever.


	6. Respite

"I suppose she's more useful than we thought."

As Mashira murmured this to himself, he gave the Markus Brothers one last, long look, then leapt into the driver's seat as black bars formed over the door to hold it shut. Night was here, but they didn't want any more problems with the door.

Across the bridge, while the Brothers were discussing their next move, Nida pulled Tsukai and Kaiou to the side. D was at the bridge, readying his horse. Nida leaned close to her friends.

"You two should stay here," she intoned softly, jerking a thumb at the Markus Brothers and Leila. "Help them out. I'm going to try to get to Lilium before D does."

"You saw how fast that man's horse goes, you have any idea how hard that's going to be?" Tsukai whispered back, his expression panicked. The thought of his friend being murdered by the gorgeous youth in black made Tsukai shudder. He had to admit though, D was pretty cute.

"I'm going to _try_. Who knows, maybe I can convince him not to do it."

"Yeah, _that _will work," Kaiou replied sarcasticly, rolling her tawny eyes. She tugged on a strand of her ginger hair, looking back at the Brothers with a worried expression. "What do we do.. I mean.. if she really does get killed? Do we still try to figure out.. you know.. how to get ... 'home'?"

"If she dies I'll be really pissed off and want to kill the guy who did it. _Then_ we can try to get home," Nida stated. Her tone left little room for argument. "I'm going to go now."

Ignoring Tsukai and Kaiou's protests, Nida mounted the cyber thoroughbred and turned it toward the bridge. It gave a brief shake of its head, then began trotting forward at her urging. Determination glowing in her golden-brown eyes, Nida kicked the steed's flanks and put it to a full gallop. She raced by D, who watched her go as he climbed aboard his own horse.

"Where's he going?!" Kyle's voice brought Tsukai and Kaiou out of their worried trances. Kaiou turned to him.

"To save Lilium, where else?"

The sound of hooves on stone drew their attention yet again, and they watched D's back, cape billowing behind him, as he sped after Nida, the carriage, and the girl who made his head spin.

Unsettling Futures

By Jamie Carlson (a.k.a. Cardinal Syn)  
Chapter Six:   
"Respite" 

Lilium emitted a frightened squeak when Caroline's face seemed to rise up out of the wall next to her. She scrambled over Meier's coffin and threw herself against the far wall, where Meier had been seated earlier. Caroline's sultry laugh filled the claustrophobic space as the locks on Meier's coffin undid themselves, as if unseen hands were guiding them to simultaneously unlatch. The lid swung upward on silent hinges. Meier sat up, upper body stiff. His eyes met Lilium's.

"I apologize for Caroline. Her ability allows her to merge with other objects on a molecular level." Meier was suddenly next to Lilium on the seat.

"I was just checking on you, my dear. Master, the nearest resting house is another four hours' travel. If you would prefer, we can go to the village of the Barbarois instead. It may throw the Hunter off his mark." Caroline melted back into the wall, winking at Lilium as she did so. The human girl squeaked again when she felt something that was distinctly like a pinch on her rear end.

"Is something the matter?" Meier asked, gazing at her with concern. She shook her head.

"Just.. She.. oh, nevermind." Lilium shifted in her seat so that one knee was drawn up on the seat next to her and her upper body faced Meier. "I'm sorry that you got burned. I should have blocked the light somehow or held the door shut." Meier laughed gently.

"There wasn't anything you could really do. Tell me, what exactly happened to the Hunter?" Meier's gaze traveled to the right side of the carriage, where black tendrils held the door shut. "He just suddenly.. vanished. It sounded like an impact." Lilium laughed, covering her mouth with her hand.

You know, I think he got knocked off the carriage by the support pillar holding the bridge up." She sighed and looked up at Meier, smiling. "I only laugh because I know he was okay. I could see him standing at the other side of the bridge."

"It is odd for one such as the infamous Vampire Hunter D to lose focus like that. You must have enthralled him some how," Meier teased, smiling, brushing a strand of her dark hair away from her eyes. She blushed, shaking her head. "Now, now. You don't know D. I know him by legend alone, but... he is impeccable. It is extremely rare for him to be caught off-guard."

Lilium looked down at her hands. She was shaking, and hadn't realized it.

"He seemed to hate you so much, just for being what you are," she whispered. "And he seemed to direct some of that hate at me when I refused to agree that I should have just let you get weaker and die."

Meier tilted her face towards his, his beautiful face serious.

"Your mindset is almost alien to him. Vampires are hated everywhere they go in this world, my dear-" Lilium giggled a little at this "- and how you've come to live so long without realizing that is a conundrum. All the same, the Hunter does not hate you. He merely fails to understand you. And what, may I ask, is so funny?"

Lilium laughed and swiveled so that her back was against the carriage wall again. She shook her head.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

» » » » » » » » » » » » Ω « « « « « « « « « « « «

"Goddamn tank," Leila growled. She had separated from the others and was following the path that paralleled the canyon. As she sped along, she played over and over again in her mind the sight of D being smacked off of the carriage. It was the only thing keeping her from shooting those annoying kids. The boy in particular pissed her off, and she couldn't figure out exactly why.

The road she was following began to wind away from the chasm. Growling, she revved the engine of her bike and increased speed. She continued edging the chasm, on bumpier ground now. Her massive motorcycle was built for rough terrain and had plenty of stabilizers and shock absorbers. She barely noticed the transition from worn ground to untamed grass. A forest was visible in the distance to her left, but the path she followed continued to trace the cliffside.

After about two hours of riding forward, she finally found the area where the cliff gave way into a hill. The rushing river continued on for miles in front of her. She jerked the bike into a hard right. The entire area was fascinating to behold. The trench itself was not natural; something had occurred here to dig such a great crevasse into the earth. Some of the earth on the sides of the cavern had a glassy appearance and reflected the headlight of her motorbike back at her. Was it damage from one of the Noble's satellites, rumored to still be orbiting the planet to this day?

Shaking her head, Leila pressed forward. The river grew more sluggish down here. The sound of the bike's engine and the river seemed to blend together. The light from her bike bounced on the uneven surface of the cliffs as they rose around her. Another two and a half hour ride back toward where the tank had fallen. A pang of worry flashed through her heart.

Suddenly, a loud splash erupted to her left. The bank of the river between the rightmost cliff face and the river to her left was just wide enough for two men to ride abreast horseback. Leila maneuvered closer to the wall as she drew her massive gun. She plowed forward, heart racing, unable to see what had moved in the water to her left as she kept her eyes forward.

Another splash came, spraying Leila with water. In the road ahead, a dark form landed in the road in the pool of light from her bike. She braked, heart leaping into her throat, tilting the bike sideways. She aimed her gun at the thing in the road and fired. A scream – womanly – cut through the darkness. She felt a mist against her face and smelled blood. She stood still for a moment, then slowly turned her bike to face the spot where the thing had been.

It lay on the ground before her. Some sort of deformed nymph with a predatory mouth filled with rows of sharp teeth. It was missing the top half of its head. Its naked form lay splayed on the road. Leila shot it again, the massive pressurized air burst blowing a hole in its chest where its heart had been. As the blonde woman gave the throttle a twist and rode slowly forward, she looked down at the remains of the nymph, its right breast still whole, the rest of its body gleaming with water and blood.

Several beats passed. Leila turned quickly back to the controls of her bike and pushed forward again.

In the glow of her visor, barely visible, one could see her biting her lip.

If one were looking.

» » » » » » » » » » » » Ω « « « « « « « « « « « «

As Leila took to finding the end of the cliff face and D went off, Borgov, Kyle, Nolt, Kaiou and Tsukai began poking around the edge of the bridge.

"I think we're just going to have to climb down," Kyle offered, looking over the side. He couldn't see the bottom anymore – there was no light to see by.

"Too dangerous," Borgov spat. "We're going to have to camp out here for the night. The light may attract some nasties, but it will keep others at bay. We can set up that tent Nolt snagged from Leila's saddlebag before she left."

As he spoke, Nolt was unfurling an inconspicuous mound of cloth. Kaiou and Tsukai were amazed to see the basketball-sized roll became a massive tent once Nolt and Kyle were finished unrolling it and putting the framework together inside. It was bigger than even the bedroom they shared at Nida's dad's house.

"That's amazing!" Tsukai's voice was filled with excitement as he stood inside of the tent. Borgov and Kyle were unrolling sleeping bags. Kaiou brought in Tsukai's bag and her own from their horse's saddlebags. Kyle looked over at him.

"You know, I've been meaning to ask... what's with your fancy-ass get up?" Kyle sneered at Tsukai.

Tsukai was wearing what appeared to be colonial-era clothing – a frock coat made of a soft blue shade over darker blue waistcoat and knee-pants, white stockings, black buckled shoes, a frilly men's shirt with a silk cravat held with a sapphire pin. He fidgeted with the ruffles poking out of the cuffs of his frock coat.

"What? It's all I could find at the inn that could fit me that was warm enough for traveling in!" Tsukai explained, turning red. Kaiou, who was dressed in a green velvet floor-length dress with a modified corset (which appeared to be more for looks than function) of black, sidled over and patted him on the shoulder.

"It's okay, _I _know it's all we had. I'd _really _like to know how the hell we ended up with such weird clothes to begin with. Seem way out of style for the um.. area." She fidgeted with her own dress, adjusting the bodice. Kyle's eyes remained glued to her ample bosom as she did so.

"Wouldn't you just have the clothing you took with you when you went travelling?" Nolt's slow, deep voice rumbled. He checked the support poles of the tent one last time before settling down tailor-style by a small portable heater he had produced from... well, somewhere. Tsukai fidgeted again with his frock coat, and Kaiou busied herself with finding suitable clothes to sleep in and clothes to wear the next day.

All Tsukai seemed to have was another set of clothes almost identical to the ones he already wore, but in deep burgundy with ruby detailing. He sighed as he set it all out, then retrieved the pants he had awoken in – simple cotton pajama bottoms. Kaiou finally located the nightgown she'd been wearing and pulled it out.

The two stood and shuffled toward the tent flap. Borgov stared after them, rings of smoke floating up toward the top of the tent where a haze began to form. He looked over at his brothers.

"These are some weird kids we've picked up. Who the hell actually bothers to _change _when camping, eh?" he chuckled, finally putting out his cigar and tucking it into his waistband. Nolt shrugged his mountainous shoulders and rubbed the back of his head.

"There's definitely something strange about these kids. That Alex boy seems alright, but I think the other boy's a bit fruity. You know. Gay."

Kaiou poked her head back into the tent. She looked straight at Nolt.

"Tsukai _is_ gay, and you're not his type."

When she vanished yet again from the tent, after a brief silence, the three Brothers Markus roared with laughter.

"Aw, fuck, that kid's cute," Kyle wheezed, holding his sides. His expression changed suddenly, an almost hungry look passing over his features, but at a shake of Borgov's head his usual heavy-lidded mask of a smile returned. He crawled into his own sleeping bag and yawned. "G'night. Wake me up if we get attacked, or if it's time to go find Grove."

Borgov lay back, one knee tucked up, the other leg crossed over it. He folded his arms behind his head and gazed up at the ceiling of the tent. It was made of micro steel fibers and the cloth had a tensile strength of nearly a million. It wasn't likely that anything outside would get in – or vice versa – once the tent flap was sealed.

"Something got Alex all in a tizzy before he sped off," Nolt whispered, settling down next to his brother. His silver hammer lay near him and he still wore the chest-bearing long coat he'd worn all day. "I wonder if the girl's been bitten? I saw her for a moment outside of the carriage. A bit far away to see clearly but she looked pretty."

"D probably told them he was going to kill her if he had to. Alex may seem pretty random, but he's damn cunning," Borgov replied, yawning. He grinned. "Little bastard snuck off with my spare crossbow and some shots, and no one noticed until I was digging through my pack lookin' for a map."

Nolt sat up and looked at his brother, alarmed.

"But.. what if we need it?"

"We won't, we won't. My primary never fails. He'll need it more than we will, what with that hunter on his trail. Won't be too surprised if he _and_ his friend end up dead by end of tomorrow."

» » » » » » » » » » » » Ω « « « « « « « « « « « «

"Didn't I leave you behind?"

Nida's voice was caught on the wind and carried back to D's ears. He was only a horse length behind her and catching up. He was soon parrallel to her. She grinned over at him. Her left arm had Borgov's spare mini crossbow strapped to it, a hip pack of bolts around her waist. It was an interesting look – her short black hair cut in a boyishly short-and-long layered style, longer in the front than in back; a black vest that was tight enough in the chest to make her more or less androgynous; white balloon-sleeved shirt with black bands on the upper arms, like an olden-days bartender or accountant; black pants loose enough to also provide androgyny and shiny black boots.

Her hands currently held the reigns of the cyborg horse with a sort of comfort that was common among those who had been riding horses the majority of their lives. Her eyes stared ahead, and to D's surprise, she guided the galloping steed around or over any debris in their path and avoided potholes in the winding dirt road.

"You should turn back."

Nida looked over at him, surprised. They had been riding abreast for nearly half an hour and he hadn't said a word prior. Now his smooth, monotonous voice cut through the sound of rushing wind and pounding hooves.

"No way! I have to get to Lil before you do," Nida replied, her voice companionable. "Can't let you kill my wifey-kins."

D actually looked at her then. She grinned.

"It's an honorary title. Kaiou and Tooskee-kun are my wives too!" Nida smiled to herself. D didn't reply, and she didn't expect him to. Her nicknames and placements for her friends were her business, but it satisfied her to think about them, to talk about them. She kept the thought of Lilium's possible death at the forefront of her mind, but kept the emotional attachment to this knowledge separate. She allowed herself anger at Lilium's kidnapping and D's threat to kill her, but nothing else.

"Your name isn't Alex," a voice cut through the darkness. A frown touched D's lips. His left hand had decided to pipe up yet again. D maintained control of his hand so that he could guide the horse, but the hand spoke, somehow less muffled than it should have been, curled around the reigns as it was. "So what is it?"

Nida grinned. "Yay! Questions! My name is Nida."

"Nye-duh... Eh?"

"Yeah, just like that."

After a few minutes of silence, the hand piped up again.

"Hey, D... Why haven't you just left her behind?"

"She's keeping up with us."

"Oh... WHAT?!"

Nida laughed at the surprise in the hand's tone. Her own equestrian skills apparently matched those of D, at least in this world. She wondered to herself what else was enhanced here, wherever she was.

"Ask me a question?" she demanded, the slightest questioning lilt in her voice. After several minutes of riding in silence, she asked again, putting more whine into her tone. Finally, she grunted, "Ask me a question, dammit!"

She thought she heard D sigh, but it may have been the wind in her ears.

"Why did your friend – Lilium – seem so surprised that I intend to kill her if she defends Meier Link?"

The question rang out, clear above the pounding of the hooves of the cyborg horses. Nida was silent so long D assumed she wasn't going to answer at all. Then...

"She's naïve. Naïve and kind-hearted. She sees the world in black and white; good people and bad people. Unless you give her a reason to think you're bad people, she's going to give you the benefit of the doubt. She's too nice."

The horses slowed. Both of their horses had grown tired from the run, and they had picked this up at the same time. As they walked their horses forward in the darkness, the stars began to shine more brightly than they had before. Nida hadn't noticed that it was overcast until they finally escaped the clouds' shadows. The night was even clearer to her eyes now than it had been before. She wagered even Lilium could see outside now...

"Ask me another question?"

» » » » » » » » » » » » Ω « « « « « « « « « « « «

The carriage rolled to a stop. Caroline extracted herself from the carriage and held the door open. Meier exited first, his movements too quick and fluid for Lilium's eyes to quite catch. He held a hand out to her. She took it, and he helped her down from the carriage. She gathered her skirt in her free hand, steading herself with her grip on his own cold hand, and stepped down onto the small step ladder that had unfurled under the door. The area outside was very well-lit, and it took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the sudden brightness.

When she was clear of the carriage door and had stepped away from Meier, she gasped and involuntarily stepped backward, running into Meier. He placed his hands on her shoulders, long fingers gentle.

They stood in the heart of a huge canyon. Holds of some sort ・ houses? were carved out of the sides of the crevasse. Creatures of every kind ・ from halflings to naga to centaurs and monsters Lilium had no name for ・ came slowly out of the darkness of those caves, their eyes reflecting the light of the night sinisterly. The canyon was nearly a mile in length down to where a huge stone-and-steel gate blocked passage to the road beyond. 

・Where are we?・ she whispered softly, feeling fear shiver up her spine, raising the hairs on her arms. 

・You, my dear girl, are at the village of the Barbarois,・ came a litling voice. The owner of the voice was a small, shrunken old man, whose skin was heavily wrinkled, and whose eyes were so flat and lifeless that they seemed of stone or wood. He was covered by a tattered cape and wheeled forward on what appeared to be a unicycle. Lilium watched him with a sort of horrified fascination. His voice was old and creaky, like leather, but strong. ・I am the elder of the Barbarois. My lord Meier Link ・ we are very much at your service. I see you are missing someone?・ 

・Benge fell to the hands of the vampire hunter who calls himself D,・ Meier Link responded, his voice more formal and regal than Lilium had previously heard it. 

・And this young lady? She's very lovely; perhaps a midnight snack?・ the old man queried, wheeling forward with a grace and ease than unnerved Lilium as much as his reference to her as something akin to leftover pizza did. 

・Not at all,・ Meier's voice carried an edge of ice to it, hidden somewhere in the overall pleasant tone. He lifted a lock of Lilium's hair and ran his fingers through it slowly, as if admiring her tresses. The vampire's bite was clearly visible. ・This is a rare young girl who values life ・ any life ・ even _un_life. Regrettably, she is now caught up in my business due to her charity. I hope to be able to return her to Gaelin, where she was..・ his red eyes landed on Mashira and Caroline, who stood rigidly by the carriage. They flinched. ・.. taken without prior thought or permission.・ 

The creepy old man's eyes riveted on Mashira and Caroline. He glowered darkly at them, his thick brows lowering. Meier waved a hand languidly.

・It's of no concern. They have been spoken with ・ they know not to make such a mistake in the future.・ As he spoke, Meier moved around Lilium, but kept one arm possessively ・ protectively ・ over her shoulder. His long black cape wrapped around to cover half of her. The air was chill ・ although it did not effect him, he knew part of the reason she shivered was from cold. The rest was from fright, and he intended to do all he could to reassure her. 

・My lord Meier Link and his lady guest are more than welcome in our home. I see your carriage is damaged ・ it will be repaired with utmost expediency,・ the old man advised, bowing low ・ somehow still on his unicycle ・ and turned around, calling out orders. He looked back to Meier and Lilium. ・We shall have a guest room made up for you both. We will have a bed made for the girl and your coffin shall be brought inside. Repairs on your carriage should be finished by morning, but if they are not, you will be given a new one at dawn to allow you to continue your travel.・ 

Meier led Lilium down the main floor of the canyon. She looked up at the sky, anywhere but at the strange man and the creatures that surrounded them. She could feel their eyes, and sense their need. She shuddered. Some of it was hunger, some of it was curiosity. She hoped beyond hope that it was her imagination, but it seemed as though lust was added to the mixture of emotions pressing down on her, and it seemed very prominent. She could almost smell the musk from some of the more animal-like Barbarois.

Meier's arm around her was mildly reassuring, but it also felt like she was being held there, trapped, surrounded by monsters, unable to escape. It was more claustrophobic in the open-air canyon than it had been in the carriage ・ her social phobia had kicked in now, and she resisted the panic attack that threatened to leave her a mess of nerves. 

Finally, after walking what seemed an hour but had to only be a quarter of that, the strange elder veered to the left, and that was where Meier steered her. They entered through a cave entrance that sported a door which seemed to have been made to the specifications of the jagged opening in the rock wall. Inside was a large room, probably one hundred by one hundred feet, sectioned into different areas by partitions. There was a sitting area, an area that was set low into the ground and contained what appeared to be a bathing area, and a sleeping area. There was a raised platform that looked like a coffin would fit on it, and a frame for a futon or other bedding.

The old man bowed to Lilium, and then exited. Meier turned to her and took her hand.

・I need to speak with him ・ arrangements for the repair of the carriage, and your bedding, food, and your clothes. Please try and make yourself comfortable,・ he advised. He led her to the bathing area. It was partitioned with large white screens similar to rice paper walls. Steam wafted out of that room. ・The water is warm. I should be gone long enough for you to bathe, if you desire. It will help you relax.・ 

Lilium let out a shaky sigh. She had been holding her breath or breathing very lightly. She smiled up at him.

・I'm sorry. The people ・ the Barbarois ・ they're a bit much for me I think. I'll be fine. I'll soak in the bath. Does the partition have something for a door?・ she asked, taking a few shaky steps forward, then finding her voice and inner calm as she spoke and walked, taking control of herself. He showed her where she could slide the screen closed. 

After Meier left, Lilium looked around, then stepped inside the bathing area. She stepped down onto a floor made of smooth, flat sheets of river rock . She stripped of the dress she wore ・ she was surprised to find what she had taken to be a single dress when she threw it on was a two-piece set, an outer gown and a chemise. She hung the gown on a peg on the bathhouse side of the partition, then stripped off the undergown. Blushing a little, looking around as if expecting to find Caroline peeking at her from some wall somewhere, she gathered her courage and stripped off her underthings. 

There was what appeared to be a shower head off to one side with a drain hewn into the rock. Chords made of sparkling beads and chain hung by it. Tentatively, she tugged on one of the chords. She yelped as rushing water spouted from the shower head. A series of copper-colored pipes ran along the floor and disappeared into the wall. One of such pipes was the base of the shower head ・ it climbed halfway up the tall wall, which had been carved smooth here, then was bent outward. A round showerhead was placed on top. Standing under it was like standing under a warm, heavy rain. 

Lilium found some form of fragrant soap and used it to scrub down in the shower. She worked quickly, all too aware of her own nudity. Once she felt cleaner and free of suds, and was sure her hair felt clean, she pulled the other chord, which turned the water off. The soaking tub was a ten-foot by five-foot depression cut into the ground which was filled with steaming water. By this point, it was so steamy in the room, she was having trouble seeing.

She felt her way to the edge of the water with her toes, then sat on the floor. She dipped one leg into the pool. It was warmer than the shower was, and felt almost uncomfortably hot. She lowered herself in slowly until she was fully seated. The water was up to her shoulders. She sighed, closing her eyes and leaning her head against the smoothed edge of the pool. The soft sloshing of the water from the ripples of her movement was the only sound for a while.

She opened her eyes, staring up at the rock ceiling of the cavern.

・Where are we?・ she whispered. ・Did I do wrong, in helping him? I seem to have gotten myself and my friends into trouble. What to do?・ 

The sound of the outside door opening startled her. She dipped into the water, up to her chin, and turned around, keeping herself pressed up against the side of the recessed soaking pool. She could see the outline of a tall man outside ・ cloak ・ somewhat spikey hair ・ Meier? He was accompanied by the lithe, curvaceous form of Caroline. 

・If Caroline may come in for a moment, she will take your clothes to be washed. She has also brought you a nightgown,・ Meier called. Lilium tried to reply but found her mouth dry, cleared her throat, and tried again. 

・That's fine.・ 

The partition's sliding door opened. Meier was not visible. Caroline sauntered in and gathered up Lilium's clothes.

・Ooh, lacy underthings,・ Caroline cooed, winking down at the nearly totally-submerged Lilium. The brunette felt blood rush to her face. 

・It was all I had to throw on when we were hustled into the basement at the Inn,・ she found herself saying, voice defensive. Caroline chortled, then walked out. She returned with a white wool nightgown which she showed to Lilium, then hug on the peg. She also set a towel on the floor near the door. 

After blowing her a kiss, Caroline left. Lilium could hear her murmuring something to Meier, then being dismissed. She watched his form curiously as he wandered the cavern apartment. Soon, she heard the door open again. It was like watching a shadow play ・ large men ・ creatures ・ things, whatever ・ came in with what appeared to be Meier's coffin between them. Their shadows danced on the partition. 

Once they were finished, as she stared to feel light headed from the heat and steam, Lilium hoisted herself out of the water. She dried off quickly, suddenly nervous that she was providing her own shadow-play. She shrugged on the nightgown ・ it was little scratchy, and no underwear was provided, but it would do. 

She towled her hair as dry as it would get, then dropped the towel on the floor and stepped out of the bathing area. Steam followed her into the main room.

It was dimly lit ・ the electric lights had been switched off and small orbs of light were placed at various places in the room. Meier turned toward her. He had been observing a map hung on the wall near the door. 

・Do you feel better?・ Genuine concern softened his sharp, angular features. She beamed up at him. 

・Yes, thank you. I'm sorry if I was any worry.・ 

・Not at all.・ Meier gestured to the map. It was completely unrecognizable to Lilium. 

・Do you see the marking for a fortress, here?・ he asked, pointing at a castle-like symbol on the map, surrounded by a blue line Lilium took to be water ・ a moat of some sort? ・_That_ is where my Charlotte is waiting. It is a human fortress, rarely used anymore ・ most humans don't know how to operate it. I told her how. It will keep her safe until I come for her.・ 

・Will you tell me about her? About Charlotte?・ Lilium asked, running a hand through her damp, tangled locks. He smiled. He produced a fine-looking comb from his pocket and handed it to her. She grinned at him in thanks and proceeded to comb out her hair, careful not to catch and break it. 

・She looks a bit like you ・ older, her hair is longer. Yours has more red in it than Charlotte's does. Hers is the color of turned earth, and she smells of roses,・ he murmured, a smile rising on his lips. He sat gracefully on some oddly shaped chair of some sort, and Lilium flumped ・ careful to keep her nightgown from riding up ・ onto a chair opposite him, a simple wooden coffee table between them. ・She is very kind and gentle, and, like you, believes that not all vampires are evil. 

・We met long ago, when she was out at night with her father, traveling. Their wagon had broken ・ the axle had gone. I introduced myself, and though her father feared me, she was fascinated by me, or so she says.・ Meier closed his eyes and leaned back in his seat, as if trying to conjure Charlotte up into his mind. ・We met again a few times after, always while I was traveling near her village at night. We fell in love.・ 

Lilium finished combing her hair and sat quietly, comb in her lap, hands folded over it,listening.

・Her father and brother would never understand ・ it is better for her if she makes it look like she ran away,・ Meier murmured. His face became lined with sorrow. ・I wish it was easier for her. But I cannot live without her... nor can she live without myself, so she says.・ 

・And because you're a vampire, no one is going to be okay with it?・ Lilium asked. He nodded. ・What do you do, then?・ Concern colored her words. 

・The stars,・ he replied wistfully. ・There are ruins... a place where we can go, that bears a ship, a very old ship of Nobility technology, that will carry us to the stars. And we can be alone there, together. Happy.・ 

Lilium looked down at her hands.

・Noble. I heard people in Gaelin call you that. It's another word for vampire, isn't it?・ 

・You should already know that...?・ 

・I'm not.. from around here. We're a long way from home.・ 

Meier looked at her quizzically, but she said no more. She stood, wobbly. ・I'm sorry, I feel bad leaving you alone, but I need to sleep. I'm passing out.・ 

Meier stood and took her arm, as if afraid she would do so. Or perhaps that she would simply fall over as she seemed unsteady on her feet.

He led her to where a bed had been made for her. Furs covered a futon, and a quilt and pillow were laid out for her on the bed frame. She lay down, pulling the cover up around herself. Her dark eyes were bleary, and as she looked up at Meier, she stifled a yawn behind her hand.

・I'm sorry if I'm causing you even more trouble than you appear to be in,・ she sighed between yawns. He smiled at her. She didn't feel like being awake anymore after that. As her eyes closed and she drifted, she thought to herself, _I must be awfully tired if my insomnia isn't keeping me awa--_

And she slept.

Meier Link spent much of the night gazing at the tiny symbol of a fortress on the map of that area of the Frontier.

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Author's Note: Yay, everyone is getting some rest or just hanging out. This is the type of chapter I hate writing – everyone is just going somewhere to do something and nothing really exciting happens.

But not every chapter can be exciting, right?

Right.

Also, I apologize if anyone is being annoyed by my seeming issues with I was an idiot and deleted all my chapters and re-uploaded them because I didn't realize you could replace an existing chapter. O.o Since it now no longer says, chapters 1 - 3 were originally posted back in 2002 - 2003. Fun times.


	7. Travel, Lost Time, Tank Troubles

"Charlotte, my love, I'm coming for you. We will be together soon," Meier Link murmured, gently touching the map before him where the fortress lay. His red eyes filled with longing as he gazed at it. At length, he pulled a strand of beads out of his pocket – fresh water pearls in a startling shade of pale purple, a tiny crystal spacing each pearl apart. He slid it through his hand, thinking of Charlotte, thinking of the strands of pearls she wore in her beautiful hair.

He was soon distracted by murmuring coming from the area where Lilium slept. Curious, he turned away from the map to watch her. She was thrashing a little in her sleep, occasionally mumbling something. He glided over to her, his cape flowing around him. Coming to a stop by the edge of the bed, he knelt next to it, watching the girl's face.

Lilium's features looked relatively peaceful, but it was as if every once in a while something in her dream would displease her, or perhaps confuse her? Her expression changed only briefly before settling into a mask of sleep once again, but he could very distinctly hear one of the things she muttered. It was a letter – no, a name.

"D..."

**Unsettling Futures**

**By Jamie Carlson (a.k.a. Cardinal Syn)  
Chapter Seven: **  
"Travel, Lost Time, Tank Troubles"

"Ask me another question!"

The night had nearly drawn to a close when D and Nida reached the hill leading to the resting house. He had been asking her questions as she wished, but his responses became more terse and less thoughtful as the night progressed. She also had found ways around answering his questions, such as where they were from and why they seemed to be so unaware of the dangers of the Frontier.

Finally, D shook his head.

"What is your favorite color?"

D had to pull his horse to a stop as Nida suddenly wheeled hers about, blocking his path. He saw her eyes glitter, almost gold-colored in the moonlight, as they narrowed. A trick of the light made them seem catlike.

" That was a stupid question!" she snapped. "You didn't put_ any_ thought into that at all!"

"..." D's silence was heavy and weighed down with the dark blanket of his unique and chilling aura. Nida seemed to shrug it off like a fine winter's snow, however.

"You need to ask me a decent question, or we're not going any further!"

"I thought you wanted to save your friend?"

"See! Better question." Nida wheeled her cyborg horse around and guided it towards the desert. The terrain had evened out, forest turning to grassland. The reflective building was up ahead, barely visible in the darkness. It reflected the skyscape almost perfectly. She looked back over her shoulder. "But it's still a stupid one, as the answer is pretty obvious."

After a length of silence, Nida cheerfully asked that another question be posed to her. D's mouth had become a severe line, and it was more and more obvious he was finished. Suddenly, D's left hand piped up.

"Where'd you learn to ride a horse like that?"

"Dunno! Just can."

"Okay, so, besides superhuman equestrian skills, what other talents d'you got?"

"No idea!"

"How about your friend – the girl in the white dress?"

"Who?"

"Lilium."

"Oh, right!" Nida was silent for a while, as if mulling over her answer. Finally, she offered this reply: "I don't know."

Left Hand was silent for a while. Finally, it spoke again, but not directly to Nida. Its voice was heavy with what Nida took as disappointment.

"They aren't here."

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Grove groaned. He had been tossed about when the tank dropped off the edge of the cliff, but the roll down the side had been fairly smooth. There was little to no likelihood of any sort of intruding monster entering the tank – it was sealed too tightly. Technically, he was safe. But he was alone, which he hated more than anything else.

He had hit his head – not a bad enough head wound to worry about too much, but there was blood on his face.

Leila reached down, gently stroking the side of his face. He didn't rouse from his slumber, his breathing soft but labored, the somber beep of his heart monitor echoing in the stillness of the tank.

She had gotten there a bit past midnight. There had been no further troubles after the mutant nymph, but she was still agitated after that encounter. She was relieved to find the tank intact and Grove alive inside. She figured the others were camping out near the bridge as it had gotten dark too quickly to begin the climb down, and most of their equipment was in the tank itself.

Sitting carefully on the bed, Leila leaned over Grove. Her fingers rested on his neck. She checked his pulse. Steady.

Slowly, Grove responded to her presence. His eyes opened slowly, and he squinted at her, struggling to focus. When he finally became aware, his eyes snapped open.

The beeping of the heart monitor grew frantic...

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Dawn broke over the tent. The brothers had already been up by the time Kaiou shrugged another outfit on. She had been luckier than Tsukai when it came to fresh clothing. This time it was a heavy tan shirt made of some sort of leather over a cotton undershirt, and a slightly darker pair of tan pants. While the Markuses were out of the tent, she and Tsukai changed their clothing, careful to keep their backs to each other. Kaiou didn't care, but Tsukai did.

"How do you think Nida and Lil are holding up?" Tsukai asked tentatively. He turned to Kaiou, who was lacing up a pair of boots. She looked up at him, frowning a little.

"If Lil wasn't dead when we were at the bridge, she's probably not going to be dead when Nida reaches her. And I'm pretty sure Nida's fine," she replied. "I don't feel like she's dead."

"Yeah, I feel the same way. But I'm still worried," the young man replied, running his hand through his short-cropped hair. He made a face. "I'd really like to take a bath."

"You can bathe in the river when we get down there," Kaiou offered, tying her relatively short, straight hair back with a chord. She turned to the tent's opening as Kyle ducked in. He flicked his gaze at Kaiou before picking up the last of the brothers' sleeping bags and striding out the door.

"You were hotter in the dress," he called over his shoulder as he disappeared from the tent.

"You just wanted to be able to look up my skirt!" Kaiou called back, slinging the saddlebag over her shoulder and following him out. Tsukai crinkled his nose at this and trailed behind, carrying his own bags.

"Of course!" Kyle responded cheerfully. He winked at Kaiou as she sauntered past, a little extra sway to her hips as she walked over to her cyborg horse. Tsukai rolled his eyes at this.

"I'll be damned!" they heard Borgov thunder from somewhere over the edge of the cliff. The three walked to the edge and looked over.

Borgov and Nolt were standing on what appeared to be a damaged walkway, zigzagging down the cliff side. It had been crushed by the tank as it had rolled down the rocky incline, but where it was intact, it was just large enough for a horse to walk. The trouble would be getting the horse they had down the some thirty feet drop to the path. The walkway had eroded near the top and broken off, but appeared to be fairly intact where Nolt was jumping on it and shaking it to test its strength.

"Shouldn't you find a better way to see if it's safe?" Tsukai called down. Nolt looked up at him, surprised.

"Like how?"

Silence stretched on. Finally, Tsukai called back,

"I don't know."

Nolt laughed at this – for some reason or another – and finished checking the rails.

"It's safe enough to walk the horse on, if we can get it down the steps safely. But I have no idea how we're gonna get it down here to begin with!"

"How did we not see that last night?" Kaiou muttered. Kyle pointed to the bridge.

"It was dark as is, and the bridge cast a shadow against the wall of the cliff. There was no way we could see it once we had a chance to look." He looked at the horse, then at the thirty foot drop, and scowled.

"Hey, Bro, I don't think we're going to be able to do this!" Kyle called down. "Not with the horse!"

"Sure we can," Kaiou responded. "Just take the switchback trail."

Kyle stared at her.

"The what?"

Kaiou sighed as if disgusted. She pointed to the other side of the bridge. Vaguely, one could make out what appeared to be a zigzagging trail – wide enough for a horse – with no railing weaving across the side of the canyon. Kyle stared.

"Well, I'll be damned."

Kaiou rolled her eyes and began leading her horse across the bridge. She called over her shoulder, "We can take the horse down there and everyone else can climb down on this side."

Tsukai trotted after her, tossing a brief glance back at Kyle, then turning to Kaiou herself to initiate banter. Kyle leaned down over the near side again, pointing to the switchback trail on the far side of the canyon.

"I'll help these two lead the horse down, Borgov – you and Nolt should head down from here. I'll meet up with you when we've got the horses lead down."

Borgov offered a thumbs up and started down the shaky metal walkway, Nolt on following behind.

After two hours of rather uneventful walking, Kyle, Tsukai and Kaiou made it down on the opposite side of the river.

"Didn't think about this part," Kaiou mused, watching the frothy water rush by. She gazed up and down the river, and found a small bridge over the river, running parallel to the larger, fancier bridge above. "Here we go. Come on," she guided the horse over to the second bridge.

The tank had rolled to a stop on the other side of the river, about ten yards from the bank, and twenty or so from the smaller bridge. Kaiou eyed the bridge warily as the horse fidgeted next to her.

"Do we want to trust this thing?" Tsukai asked, staring at the worn pontoon in distaste. It was made of splintering wood, weather-warped and worn down with age.

"We don't have any choice," Kaiou snapped. "Not unless you want to walk down the river until we find a place that looks safer to forage?"

"I think you mean ford," Kyle replied, smirking. She huffed and tossed her hair.

"Yeah, whatever."

Kaiou lead the horse onto the bridge, impatient. It was more solid than she had expected. She crossed without incident, only to turn around and see Kyle and Tsukai still on the other side. Her tawny eyes narrowed.

"What the hell are you two doing?!" she shouted across – the river was about twenty yards wide. The looked at each other sheepishly, then back at her.

"I was waiting to see if it was safe!" Kyle replied. A sweatdrop ran down Tsukai's temple.

"Y-yeah, me too."

"Assholes! You were willing to let ME fall in the river and drown so long as you didn't get wet, is that it?!" Kaiou roared, her tone matching the angry rush of the water.

"Now, now," Kyle responded soothingly, holding his hands up, palms toward her. He lazily strode across the bridge, Tsukai on his heels, not wanting to be left alone on the other side of the raging waters. Kyle placed an arm around her shoulders once he reached her, taking the horse's reigns from her and guiding her toward the tank, where Borgov and Nolt were waiting with Leila. "I was just waiting for a chance to play hero and save you – unluckily for me, you're just far too capable and strong a woman for me to be able play hero with."

His tone came out is a placating purr. Tsukai rolled his eyes as Kaiou seemed to buy into the attention.

The three meandered over to the tank, Kaiou looking much less cross and Tsukai making faces at Kyle behind his back.

Some time later, the group finally met back up inside the tank. The damage was pretty severe.

"The parts aren't that hard to replace," Nolt rumbled. "It's just gettin' the parts that's the hard.. um.. part."

"There should be a town about two miles west of the canyon," Leila remarked, shoving supplies back into the supply lockers and bolting them back down. They had been tossed about when the tank slid down the hill. "We can always check them out and see if we can't acquire the parts we need there."

Borgov nodded, stroking his beard. He looked around the tank, at Grove who was sleeping peacefully with a bandage wrapped around his head. "Alright. So who wants to go get the parts?"

After drawing straws, it was determined that Leila, Kyle and Nolt would head into town on the remaining horse and Leila's bike. They would bring back another horse, parts, and some provisions and repair the tank.

It was high noon when they left. Borgov checked Grove's vitals, then stood watch outside the tank. Kaiou and Tsukai stared at each other from across the tank's vast cabin.

"How do you think Nida's doing?" Tsukai asked softly.

"She's fine," Kaiou responded, her tone matter-of-fact. She brushed some dirt off of her sleeve. "It's Lil I'm worried about. At this point, I won't be too surprised if someone kills her." She kept her gaze on Tsukai as she said this, unwavering as he flinched at her still factual tone. "She's gotten herself into this mess."

"Hey, it isn't her fault!" Tsukai snapped, voice raised. He covered his mouth then, looking worriedly at Grove, who still slumbered. "It isn't," he whispered harshly. Kaiou snorted.

"She _chose _to help the vampire, and _chose_ to stay with them on that bridge. She got out. She could have at least _tried_ to run toward us. I think that hairy guy was a little more worried about the vampire than if she got away." Kaiou sighed and straightened her shirt, fidgeting. "I just wish she'd think before acting sometimes."

"Yeah, like Nida does," Tsukai scoffed, sarcasm dripping like sap from his words. Kaiou rolled her eyes.

"Nida thinks more than Lil does."

"Lil.. Lilium is the name of your friend?" a weak voice interrupted. Tsukai jumped, then twisted in his seat, craning his neck to look at Grove. The sickly looking man was smiling at him gently. Tsukai blushed visibly and settled back in his seat, nodding. Realizing Grove could no longer see him, he squeaked a "Yes".

"I'm sorry she's in danger. I wish I could help more. If I was stronger, I could go search for her." Grove sighed softly, closing his eyes as some internal pain lanced through him. Kaiou cocked her head to one side and looked at him.

"Nida's already doing that."

"No.. I mean.. My body would stay behind. I wouldn't grow weary, the elements would not effect me. I could check the places where a man dare not tread in flesh and blood, like the Barbarois encampment." Grove held up one hand and pointed, in the direction, Kaiou assumed, of the Barbarois. "Or the resting house in this area." He pointed again, in the opposite direction.

"Barbarois?" Tsukai asked, finally managing to calm the flush on his cheeks. He moved over to sit next to Kaiou so he could look at Grove as they spoke. "Are they like, barbarians?" Grove laughed, a rasping laugh, but not unpleasant.

"In some ways. The Barbarois are a village of mutants, bound by their old ways to serve the creatures of the night. I wouldn't be surprised if the carriage was accompanied by two or three of them. They swear allegiance to Nobles and to money, which tend to go hand in hand."

"Hummmm..." Tsukai breathed. "What do you think?" he asked suddenly. Grove looked at him, confused. "I mean... about Lilium supposedly helping the vampire?" Innocent until proven guilty.

"It sounds like she has a very kind heart, but a naïve one." Grove began coughing, a painful sounding cough, grating and harsh. He smiled and waved his hand at the two worried teens once the spasm passed. "My body deteriorates whenever I use my power. I'm killing myself when I use it, but.. sometimes I don't have a choice."

"You can leave your body, right?" Tsukai asked. "Did you ever think about just possessing someone else and keeping their body?"

"Dear me, no! I'm not sure it's even possible."

"Uh, yeah, of course. I'm sorry, that was a really bad question..."

"No, not at all. Curiosity isn't a bad thing, and I'm sure many others with similar powers would be tempted to do just that. Me, I'm content.. even if I don't look it."

The young man and the wasting man stared at each other for a while in silence. Kaiou looked back and forth from one to the other, waiting for someone to say something, but it was like they were suddenly oblivious of her presence. Annoyed, she sighed and traipsed out of the tank.

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It was dusk by the time the others arrived. They tied the newly acquired horse with the old one in the back of the tank and began repairs. By full dark, they had started the tank to joyful cheers from the men.

The tank rumbled out of the canyon.

"Where to, Bro?" Kyle inquired, lounging in one of the front seats.

"I'm thinking we cross the desert," Borgov replied. "We can try to get ahead of them, assuming they stopped over at all – and if not, we can try to catch up."

"Across the desert and toward the fortress?" Leila said quizzically. "That's where they said the girl may be."

"You're right," Borgov responded, nodding. "That's exactly where we should head, given the time we've lost."

Preparations were made and the tank charged on. They reached the desert by midnight. By dawn, they were halfway across and stopped at an oasis. They rested, refilled their drinking water, and bathed here, then clambered back into the tank in hopes of setting out again.

But that wouldn't be interesting, would it?

The tank's tracks were clogged with sand. Cursing colorfully, Borgov and Nolt tried to dig the tank free, but were unable to do so.

"Shit! This is rediculous!" Kyle snarled. "It's way too damn hot to be stuck out here!" He kicked the sand, disgusted. Leila shook her head, throwing a nasty look in his direction as she dribbled water from a rag onto her hair.

"We're in shade here, and have a clean water supply and some food. It's better than the canyo-" Leila's grumpy reply was cut off when the ground began to shake beneath her feet.

Before anyone could respond, a large tan form burst out of the sand, throwing grit at the Brothers and Leila. Tsukai and Kaiou scrambled out of the tank, alarm etched in their faces. In the distance, one after another, giant leathery mantas emerged from the sand. They flew overhead, casting massive shadows on the tank, blocking out the sun.

"Fuck!" Kyle spat. "Sand mantas! As if things weren't bad enough!"

"We should be lucky they're just jumping over us," Leila shouted, waving everyone back into the tank. "Get back in the tank!"

They waited out the herd of sand mantas. Tsukai's eyes were bulging.

"They were HUGE! Bigger than a house! How are fish living in the sand?!"

"You sure don't get out much," Borgov laughed. He jerked his thumb toward the tank's top hatch. "One of the many inventions of the Nobles. They seem to really like giant mutated animals."

"What do we do once they're gone?" Leia asked, arms crossed. "We can't dig the tank out – not in time. Someone has to stay here with Grove. But someone needs to go on ahead as well."

"You're best at taking care of our down and out Bro here, Leila, so you stay here," Kyle remarked, running his fingers carefully over the edge of his curious blades, checking them for nicks. "Me, Borgov and Nolt can ride on ahead. We'll double up on one of the horses and find us another one in Trace, on the other side of the desert."

"We'll have to go once it starts cooling off," Nolt interjected. "It's way too hot right now, and we don't want to get stuck under the mantas."

Plans were made. Leila, Tsukai and Kaiou would stay behind with Grove. The others would head out, find someone to send back to help extract the tank, and Leila could follow once that was taken care of. They had lost far too much time already...

» » » » » » » » » » » » Ω « « « « « « « « « « « «

Images seemed to flicker in and out of focus. She couldn't keep track of them at times. Faces appeared and disappeared, people, places, buildings, none of them known to her. A woman with raven hair stood naked, a whip in her hand, and attacked; a voluptuous girl threw a harpoon with amazing skill into what looked like a giant killer whale; a man with dark hair and blood red eyes flickered in and out but never long enough to memorize his features, though he seemed somewhat familiar.

A woman now stood before her, beautiful, with long, dark hair. She stood there in a white dress, speaking, saying something, saying a name that didn't belong to her but which she knew.

"D... I'm sorry, D... D..."

Laugher, masculine, strong.

"So close to perfection, and yet... nothing but another failure, chasing me until the end of time..."

White-hot anger lanced through her, anger and hate for that voice. It was followed immediately by regret, sadness – images of the woman with the whip and many other girls – one a biker with a chain, one moment a biker the next in a lovely dress covered in jewels with a small wooden needle in her chest, her look of pain as she fell – and here, a sad looking girl with a bump on her belly, pregnant, regretful feelings again as a man is impaled by some sort of monster.

She couldn't make sense of the images and sounds that enveloped her, all tinged blue and red with regret and hate. All at once the chaos stopped, a ringing silence filled her ears, and it was the shadow-faced woman in a white dress again.

"D... D..."

Flickering and it was another girl in a white dress, this one looked so familiar but she couldn't place who it was. The girl held out a hand drenched in blood. There was a wound in her chest, where her heart was.

"D." A more familiar voice. "Please don't.. You don't have to do this.. D...?"

Just as the face began to form and she could finally see who it was – who it was holding out her hand and pleading not to die – who it was asking D not to do.. _something_ -

Darkness replaced the girl and a firm, monotonous voice filled her head.

"Stay out of my mind."

A sound like a single-note tune, beautiful and terrible, ripped through the dark, a silver flash, and she screamed.

» » » » » » » » » » » » Ω « « « « « « « « « « « «

Unbeknownst to the Markus Brothers, they were ahead of schedule compared to D and Nida, or even Meier for that matter – but we'll catch up with them shortly.

As for D and Nida, the resting house had proven empty. Nida stood, hands on hips, glaring into the darkness.

Worse yet, a magnetic storm had erupted over the desert. D had assured her that there was no traveling – not even for him. But that also meant that it was unlikely that Meier or his carriage would be proceeding. Still, Nida wasn't happy about being made to stay there, stuck and unable to push forward.

"So are magnetic storms common? Is that why there aren't many computers around here?" she asked curiously, taking a seat next to D. They were in the main hall of the resting house. D had a small portable stove going and was cooking some sort of soup. Nida somehow doubted he would be eating it; it was probably for her.

"It depends on the area," D responded. He had gotten chattier – Nida assumed this was purely to get her to stop pestering him. "This area's weather controls are damaged. On occasion, they generate these storms."

"Damn."

Nida leaned back, resting against a pillar. She looked around the vast chamber.

"Your amulet thingy was glowing when we gor here – why?"

"... It allows me to disable the Noble technology that protects this place."

"Neato. Can I have one?"

"... No."

"Damn." Nida accepted the bowl of soup D offered her. It smelled good, but she was pretty hungry. It didn't taste like much of anything, smell or no smell. It was enough to calm her rumbling gut.

Yawning, Nida stretched. "I guess I may as well sleep for a while, until the storm is over."

In short order, Nida was asleep, her snores echoing through the chamber.

D's cheek twitched. He held his right hand over his eyes for a moment, grimacing.

"What's wrong, D?" his left hand grumbled. "Something's up."

"... She's doing it again."

"Chances are, she doesn't even know it."

D's eyes reflected the blue flame of the portable stove. The light turned purple as blood light began to shine in his gaze. Finally, the unbalanced feeling in his head subsided.

» » » » » » » » » » » » Ω « « « « « « « « « « « «

"_Stay out of my mind."_

Lilium gasped as she awoke, sitting up suddenly. Meier was sitting on a nearby chair, gazing at her. His eyes widened as she clutched the covers to herself. A bead of sweat trickled down her forehead. She wiped it away with shaky hands before it could get into her eye.

Lilium slowly came to realize that Meier was watching her. She smiled weakly.

"N-nightmare. I'm sorry if I worried you."

Meier's expression softened. He stood and walked over to her, placing his hand on the top of her head.

"It's perfectly fine. I understand completely. You've had quite a rough couple of days. It is almost dawn and I will be sleeping soon." Meier turned to open his coffin. He turned back to her. "I'm sorry to say we will not be traveling for a while. There is a magnetic storm raging over the road we must follow through the desert."

"Magnetic storm?" Lilium parroted, eyes wide. Meier Link nodded. "Well.. That definitely sounds unpleasant."

Meier's warm laugher rolled through the room, and Lilium found herself smiling bashfully, cheeks tinged pink. He sighed and settled into his coffin.

"I am sorry, my dear, but I must rest. Caroline and Mashira will come to keep you company in a few hours. You should sleep until you feel rested." His eyes closed and the coffin's lid swung down on silent hinges, locking in place. Lilium stared at it for a long time before laying down again. It was a long while before she was able to slip back into sleep, fearful of the visions that would come to her this time.

» » » » » » » » » » » » Ω « « « « « « « « « « « «

Author's Note: I was hoping to get to another part before posting this, but 9+ pages later, I realized I need to break this in half. Keep an eye out in the next couple of weeks for the following chapter, which has a really weird title and even weirder content.

Sorry for such a slow, boring chapter, and my deep apologies to those who have been waiting so long for it to come out!


	8. Bridges, Getting Stabbed in the Chest

Leila waved lazily as the three Brothers trudged off through the sand, dressed for desert traveling. Her hands rested then on her curvy hips as she surveyed the surrounding area. The tank was covered in sand and just as stuck as before – more so, really. However, the gargantuan palm trees that surrounded a crystalline lake of an oasis provided them with shade for now.

Kaiou and Tsukai were at the pool, filling water canteens. They were daring each other to get into the water. This was one of the few places you wouldn't find mysterious monsters living in the water.

Just as Kaiou pushed Tsukai into the water, Lelia climbed atop the tank and opened the top hatch. She dropped in easily, pulling down the hatch and sealing it shut. She turned slowly, eyes adjusting to the darkness in the tank.

Grove stared back at her from his bed. The heart monitor beeped faster.

"Those kids.. they're just outside," Grove rasped, his voice carrying warning. Leila smiled.

"I'll be sure to be quiet," she responded, her smile widening. Her eyes gleamed in an unpleasant way as she neared Grove's side.

He stared up at her, his eyes wide and fearful. She reached up into the compartment above his bed and took out a syringe and a bottle of fluid. She drew some of the mystery serum into the syringe, then carefully placed the bottle back into its compartment. She tapped the needle of the syringe and depressed the plunger a small way, a stream of serum arching through the air to land on Grove's cheek.

Smiling lovingly, Leila brushed it off with her thumb. He grasped her wrist in his skeletal hand, ready to fight.

But he would give in.

He always gave in.

**Unsettling Futures**

**By Jamie Carlson (a.k.a. Cardinal Syn)**

**and (the real) Nida Richards  
Chapter Eight: **  
"Bridges, Getting Stabbed in the Chest, and Puerto Rican Whores"

"How did you sleep?"

Lilium nearly jumped out of her skin as the gravelly male voice cut into her reverie. She sat with her back to the door, chin on her folded hands, leaning against the back of the chair she had sat in while Meier described Charlotte to her. She twisted around, looking behind herself with wide brown eyes.

Mashira stood in the doorway, his golden eyes studying her. She had been so lost in thought that she hadn't heard the door open and close behind him. She scooted around so that she faced him, cheeks pink from embarrassment.

"Y-yes, I slept fine, thank you," she stammered. "I'm.. I'm sorry, I was in my own little world for a while." He smiled as he moved further into the room. Lilium noted his graceful stride, every movement boasting animalistic power.

"No need to apologize to me. You shouldn't let your guard down like that, however."

"You're right. I'd hate to be kidnapped," she quipped, rolling her eyes to look at him as she turned away from him to lean against the back of the chair. He only laughed at her small jab.

"Well... you do have a point, but so do I. If you'd been more careful in Gaelin, you wouldn't be here."

"If I'd known what sort of things were out there, I would have been."

Mashira looked at her quizzically as he perched stood behind her. Her mood, which had been playfully irritated a moment before, had turned dark. The hair on his body rose as he felt a surge of something from her... emotion? A sort of hollow sadness washed over him, but only briefly. He shook it off and moved to sit on the foot-wide chair back and gaze down at her. She lifted her head and looked up at him, and he decided that this was a lovely pose for her – her upturned face, somewhat triangular, looked sweet and innocent, and he could see just the hint of her breasts through the top of her white dress.

Tempting innocence. Maybe that was really why he'd taken her for Meier, less it just being chance.

"You two look like you're getting along quite well," a sultry voice purred from above them. Lilium jumped yet again, looking upward to find Caroline above her. The Barbaroi woman hung upside down, her body only visible from her hips down, back arched to look at them both. Locks of her long green hair slithered out of the ceiling and hung down to form a curtain around Mashira and Lilium. Her green-painted lips were parted in a knowing smile, her full bosom defying gravity as the skintight one-piece she wore held them in place.

"Considering we kidnapped her, I think we should be grateful that she's so forgiving," Mashira replied. Caroline retreated back into the stone ceiling, then reappeared a few feet away as she dropped down. She landed gracefully on her feet.

"It looks like the magnetic storm should pass by tomorrow eve," Caroline advised them, her voice more businesslike now. Mashira nodded.

"The carriage will be ready by tonight in case we have to leave in a hurry."

Lilium lay her cheek against her folded hands on the back of the chair, face turned away from them. She stared in silence at the wall, listening but not really hearing.

_I know it was his voice, _she thought, firm in this belief. _It was definitely him. That sound... it was the same sound I heard when he used his sword on the bridge... Was I really dreaming? ... I had to have been, I've not got a psychic bone in my body. Right? I mean, I'm kind of an empath... and emotional sponge.. but how could I have been connected with D's mind? And... that feeling...._

Mashira stopped talking mid-sentence, his attention jumping from discussing their next step in reaching Charlotte to Lilium's back. He smelled... salt. Water.

Slowly, he slid off the chair and moved to where he could gaze clearly at Lilium's face. Tears were flowing freely from her eyes, but she wasn't sobbing. He expression was deeply sad, but she wasn't in hysterics. Caroline came over to see what he was looking at, and brought a hand to her mouth, which formed an O of surprise.

"Why, dear, whatever could be the matter?" Caroline asked, a pinch of genuine concern in her voice. Mashira knelt in front of her, drawing her eyes from the wall and forcing them to focus on his face. Her eyes were so somber, so sad.

"Why are you upset, Lilium?" he asked gently.

" Actually, I'm not," she replied, her voice a soft whisper. "But he is... Though I highly doubt he ever shows it."

Mashira and Caroline exchanged a long, confused glance. Mashira turned back to the young woman whose eyes held someone else's sorrow.

"Do you mean the Master?" Mashira cocked his head. Meier was fairly easy to read, and was always sad when something happened that separated himself and Charlotte.

"No." Lilium closed her eyes and let the tears fall. "No, not Meier at all."

» » » » » » » » » » » » Ω « « « « « « « « « « « «

The symbiont in D's hand felt something wash over the Hunter. D had felt this off and on since meeting the girl in the white dress. In concerned D, as well as the occupant of his left hand. When D had to force the mysterious presence from his mind, Left Hand had begun wracking his brain for anything he had heard of in his long existence that compared to what D was experiencing now. Never during Left Hand's attachment to D had he known the Hunter to have trouble keeping a damn slip of a thing out of his head.

What really perturbed him was the fact that the little git didn't seem to realize she was doing it.

It was the secret behind asking Alex about the girl and if she had any abilities. With Alex asleep, the symbiont was considering asking D to let him near the kid, to see what "his" mind revealed about Lilium. Yes. That would do.

"Hey, D," the hand grunted. "Lemme check out that kid's mind and see if he" - he emphasized the word mockingly - "really doesn't know anything about any abilities his friend has."

Silence that stretched on as D considered. Finally, he moved away from the wall he had been standing near – memorizing a map of the area, taking into account the local hidey-holes for vampires – and returned to the main hall. Alex's snores echoed through the room. D knelt by the girl-pretending-to-be-a-boy's head and held his left hand above her forehead.

Images came to the symbiont. He focused on thoughts of Lilium. The locale was wrong – odd – too bright, too happy, to... pre-Apocalypse. He filed this information away for later.

Lilium sketching a picture, Lilium pointing at the screen of a television set and laughing, Lilium before him as they swing-danced, laughing in embarrassment as she misstepped, Lilium pouting. Lilium crying... There.

Lilium seated tailor-style with Tarot cards in front of her. A chunk of raw, unrefined quartz in her right hand as she read them. Looking up, puzzled. She was reading for the tawny-haired girl. A feeling. A feeling of feelings... what? Emotion. Empathy, he realized, but weak, so weak it didn't make much of a difference, and the ability to read Tarot. That was it. Not true Precog but the ability to read their energy through the cards. And something about really liking crystals.

Suddenly, the scene changed. Lilium was nowhere in sight. Just some old man and a young boy standing near the edge of a cliff with a flock of sheep in arms reach.

"Now, grab one of the sheep."

"Yes Grandpa," said the small child happily as he wrapped hisn small arms around the fluffy exterior of a nearby Ewe. the elderly man grabbed one as well.

"Now throw it off the cliff!" the old man instructed with an air of extreme machismo as he demonstrated the proper technique; giving out a gutteral cry as he watched the animal falm to its death "WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooo!"

The poor lad's eyes swelled to an enormous size as tears began to build at the edges. His small arms only clinged tighter to the soft creature.

Finaly, a voice -

"_Hey, what the fuck – Oh. You have some nerve!"_

The scenery went black, and a lone figure stood before them, arms crossed. It was Nida.

"If there's something you want to know, ASK. Otherwise stay the fuck out of my head or I'll show you some really disturbing imagery. Though, a rather dark and effeminate being like yourself may actually enjoy them..." She relayed the last with a flirtatious wink, her lips curling into a mischievous smile.

The Left Hand laughed.

Crude, but a little kinder than how D had dismissed Lilium.

Several hours passed. They were now both up and about and preparing to move. D had informed Nida that they could travel to the Barbaroi villiage without having to pass through the storm. Now that she had rested, they could be on their way, and it was very likely that Meier and his entourage had not been able to travel.

"So, you say you got into my head because you wanted to know how Lilium got into yours?" Nida asked, incredulous, looking at D's hand like it was trying to tell a really bad joke. "She can't do stuff like that."

"Are you able to ride horses 'back home' as well as you do here?" D's left hand retorted. Nida stopped midway through strapping on the borrowed wrist-mounted mini crossbow.

"No. I ride well, but not like that."

"Then it's possible her empathy is stronger here, though how she was able to pick up on D like that is beyond me," the hand sighed. D frowned slightly. He hadn't spoken a word since before Nida had gone to sleep. His hand was quite chatty, however, and asked the next thing on his mind. "How did the four of you get here? Your ignorance about the Frontier... the places I saw in your head. You're from the past, aren't you?"

Nida shrugged.

"To be honest, I have no idea. And I can't say if this is our future or another dimension or if I'm dreaming and this isn't real," she responded jovially. "We fell asleep at Dad's and woke up in that Gay Men place. Then Lil got kidnapped. You know the story from there – you've been there for most of it!"

"Well, you ain't sleepin', kiddo, that I can promise you."

"That's exactly what I would expect my dream to say!"

" Do you plan on following me all the way to Lilium?" Nida queried once they were ready to go, mounting her horse. D didn't respond, merely urging his horse into a trot. She took his pulling ahead of her as a response. "Oh, so I'm following you now?" she merrily chirped, and gave her cyborg horse a soft kick with her heels. It snorted, shaking its head, then followed after the hunter, giving him and his jet black cyborg horse a wide berth. "My horse doesn't seem to like you much!"

"... That isn't uncommon," D responded after a pause. Nida gave him a questioning look, then decided he was being emo and promptly ignored his comment.

"So, where do you think they went, if not this resting house?" Nida finally asked after an hour's ride northward on a winding dirt road. D looked over at her, his wide-brimmed hat shielding his face from the sun. "I'm assuming we're heading there now?"

D's answer was as monotonous as ever, but for some reason, Nida felt an uneasy sensation creep between her shoulder blades as his words slid through the still morning air, heavy and thick and molasses.

"To the village of the Barbaroi."

» » » » » » » » » » » » Ω « « « « « « « « « « « «

Mashira and Caroline stood outside the door leading into the den where Meier slept. Lilium was inside, sleeping – apparently whatever had caused her to cry had also caused her to become exhausted. Caroline leaned against the door, her pose casually provocative. Her delicate features were scowling darkly, marring her beauty.

"That girl is more trouble than I had thought when we kidnapped her," Caroline murmured in her honey-thick voice. "Who would have thought the Master would take her with us? And now this."

"I find it fascinating," Mashira responded lightly. "If not the Master's heart she is feeling, could it be..."

Caroline's head snapped up and she stared at him, eyes wide. A sinister gleam crept into her gaze, and a hint of her ferocious nature bled through as her mouth twisted up into a smirk.

"The Vampire Hunter... no, it would be far too delicious," she chuckled. "It couldn't be him. She's probably thinking of some lost lover." The tension left Caroline's body and she slumped back against the door. Mashira sighed.

"Yes, you're probably right. It would be too easy, and Master Meier Link would never allow her to be used as a weapon – not even against a Hunter such as D."

"You sound worried," a grizzled voice pipped. Mashira turned his head toward the voice, Caroline's eyes rolling languidly in the same direction. The Barbarois elder sat before them on his little unicycle. His colorless eyes pierced the two. "As well you should be. The Hunter is almost certainly on his way here. He would have learned by now that the resting house is abandoned and empty, and he would immediately head this way. His horse is far swifter than any other – you'd best be ready to flee as soon as night falls, and fight if need be."

Mashira and Caroline stood up straight as rods. The urge to battle seemed to radiate from them.

"Protect our employer at all costs. The carriage is ready. As soon as the light is dim enough for movement, you will go."

» » » » » » » » » » » » Ω « « « « « « « « « « « «

Nida was keeping up with D perfectly. The only thing she couldn't seem to do was keep her horse from getting tired. It seemed to her that D was going a little slower than she had expected, but couldn't be sure if he really was or if she was imagining it. It was sure a really fucking long ride from the resting house toward the mountainous hills and crags that the Barbaroi apparently inhabited.

As they drew nearer to the towering gates that blocked the way in, D's horse slowed. Nida kept in step to his left and a little behind him. As they approached at a leisurely pace, the ten-story-tall wood and steel doors gave a terrible shudder and began to open on nearly silent hinges.

_That must take several gallons of WD-40_, Nida thought to herself.

She felt a chill creep between her shoulder blades as a thick mist curled out from the rapidly widening gap between the doors. The fading sunlight cast a reddish glow to the fog. Strange sounds – cackling laugher, chittering, some sort of slithering – seemed to echo on the walls of the vast crevasse around them. Her horse shied, eyes rolling. Nida tried to soothe it as it tried to rear her off, fear overtaking its sensors. D's horse made no move. Whatever power he had over cyborg horses, she really wished she had too.

Nida ended up having to slide off her horse and let it run. D didn't pay her any heed as she trudged along beside him, her wrist-mounted crossbow at the ready.

They passed the threshold. Nida focused ahead, but could see the bizarre shapes surrounding her.

_They're only ducks, this is duck hunt. Quack, quack._

D stopped his horse. He dismounted, standing in front of Nida. She peered around him and saw something kind of bizzare – a little old man on a unicycle. His cotton-white hair flowed around him on a breeze that cut through the canyon. The same breeze stirred D's long hair and tugged longingly at his cape.

"You have respect for your elders, I see," the old man stated in a voice as leathery as his skin. He smiled and Nida got the oddest sensation that this man would be the type to download the kind of porn that had lots of pretty people, probably all boys. Pretty boys? No wonder he was staring at D.

"I am here for the Count Meier Link."

"And I'm here for Lilium!" Nida crowed. The old man's eyes skipped over to her.

"Ahhh, I had not dreamed the mighty Vampire Hunter D would have a companion."

"He doesn't, we're just sort of both after the same thing," Nida responded, crossing her arms in a manly way. The old man's strange eyes studied her up and down.

"Well, now, a beautiful man and a lovely boy, what a wonderful fight this shall be, for we cannot allow you to have either of them," the old man chuckled. "I truly regret the need to battle with you – such a creature as yourself is truly deserving of nothing less than the utmost respect of the Barbarois!" the old man said to D as he glided backward on his unicycle.

There was sudden movement. A mellifluous sound rang out and a silvery white flash cut through the air above Nida's head. The remains of a spider-person, trisected, lay on either of her sides and behind her. Gritting her teeth, she took aim at a werewolf that barreled toward them and fired, the silver arrows she "borrowed" from Borgov finding purchase in its eye. It howled in pain and anger before collapsing, grey matter leaking from the wound.

As D skillfully dispatched a giant with muscles of steel, Nida kept firing at the advancing Barbarois.

_It's just like Duck Hunt, they're stupid little ducks – Quack, quack quack... Quack... quackquackquack, _Nida let out a roar as she stabbed a strange tentacle-bearing woman in the throat with one of the arrows. "QUACKQUACKQUACKQUACKQUACK!" she bellowed.

Apparently, this disturbed the Barbarois as they hesitated in their fighting – which was fatal as thin stakes of white wood were launched from D's left hand and embedded themselves in foreheads and hearts, and his elegant sword took off the heads of a group of zombie-looking creatures.

Nida managed a rather superb head shot from a distance, through the window of one of the smaller, ground-level caves. Grinning, she fought her way in, and disappeared inside. D didn't bother going after her, but when there was a break in the fighting, he glanced over his shoulder. Her head appeared and disappeared from the window, up and down in the same spot, a satisfied expression on her face. After a few moments she reappeared.

In response to D's questioning glance, Nida flashed her teeth in a wicked grin.

"It just isn't a proper gank without some tea bagging action!" A coarse laugh erupted from D's left hand.

"Kid, you ain't got the equipment for that!"

"Then D can do it next time!"

"ENOUGH!" a snarling voice ripped through the fray. The stragglers from the battle immediately retreated into the shadows yet again, creating a path before D and Nida. The man and woman who had kidnapped Lilium stood before them. The man's upper body had taken a shape more like a normal werewolf – Nida recognized him only by the red vest he wore.

"This fight is ours!" Caroline purred. Suddenly, her long green hair spiked into the ground. Rather than sending up dust from the impact, it seemed to meld with the ground. Nida found herself being lifted into the air, thrown over D's left shoulder as he leapt easily out of the way of the stalagmites that suddenly burst from the earth where they had been standing.

Nida had too good a view of D's cyborg horse as a stalagmite rose below it and impaled the creature. Its death squeal rang in her ears. After D had set her back down, she whipped around and immediately sent an arrow flying. It struck Caroline between the eyes. She fell backward with a shriek. Her body landed hard on the earth as her hair returned to its natural form.

Shock registered in Mashira's wolf head. Respect lit up in his yellow eyes as he turned toward Nida and D, his stomach extending out into another wolf's head as he threw back his head in a long howl.

"Fools, enough playing around," the old man snapped. Caroline lifted a hand weakly and pulled the arrow from her forehead. She stood, shaken, eyes filled darkly with bitter hate as she glared at Nida. 100 yeards distanced them. Nida had skill. "The coffin is loaded – be gone!"

Suddenly, Mashira spun about and sprinted toward the far side of the canyon. There, a black carriage with a team of six cyborg horses stood in wait. Nida gave a snarl and began dashing after them, only to be passed by a black wind.

D swung his sword, but it was met with a metallic ringing as Meier appeared before him.

The sun had finally set. Nida hadn't even noticed.

Count Meier Link had his black cape pulled up, and somehow the material itself had taken on a molecular structure like steel. He pushed against D, red eyes gleaming.

"Leave us in peace, Hunter," he intoned softly. "Lilium comes with me only so that I may keep you from harming her. And the girl I go to meet is coming with me willingly as well – so leave us be!" Putting all his force into the movement, Meier pushed D back. D used the momentum to extend his leap backward – he landed only ten feet away from Nida. Meier's eyes moved from D to Nida as he stood ready, arms at his side, body still as a statue.

"Are you one of her friends?" he asked softly.

"I don't appreciate your kidnapping Lilium," Nida responded casually. She looked past him to the carriage. "You're not protecting her from D, I'm saving her from you."

"You are wrong," Meier replied softly.

"Yes, Meier, I would kill her if she gave me no other choice," D's voice cut through Nida. She glared at him darkly. "If she chooses to leave your side here, I promise not to hurt her. She will be in no danger of becoming a slave of the Nobility if I kill you."

"You will do no such thing!"

Nida turned to the new voice. Lilium stood halfway between Meier and the carriage. The night breeze tugged at her hair and dress. The glow of artificial lights on the carriage and all around them in the cavernous holds that were Barbarois homes cast multiple shadows around her, and set the white dress she wore to shimmer.

Lilium's hands were clenched at her sides as she glared at D. The Hunter gazed steadily back.

"What sort of cold-blooded ultimatum is that?" Lilium strode forward now, showing a hint of the almost aristocratic grace she seemed to possess only when truly angry and determined. "So you'll kill one or both of us, is that it? Oh, how merciful!"

D was not phased by her sarcastic comment. He took a step forward, his sword held out, tip lowered toward the ground. Meier stepped to block his path, but Lilium stepped around him. She met the Hunter half way, but kept more than an arm's length from him.

"If you want to cut me down for having a compassionate heart, then do so." Lilium's voice was nearly steady, but carried the barest hint of a quiver. "Just leave Meier and Charlotte alone. He loves her, whether you want to believe that or not."

Suddenly, her serious mood melted away and she threw a bewildered look at Nida.

"Nida, did I just sound like some little religious twit trying to win the 'Christianity is the One True Way' argument by saying 'God loves you whether you like it or not'?" she asked incredulously. Nida nodded, a pained expression on her face. Lilium sighed, putting her hands on her hips. "Dammit, I didn't have enough time to think of a better way to put that."

Nida laughed. "Come on, just come back. If Mr. Emo kills you, I'll be massively pissed off."

Lilium's gaze met with Nida's. She opened her mouth to speak, but suddenly her expression changed again. She looked afraid.

D was emitting a heavy miasma. Blood light blossomed in his eyes. Lilium wasn't looking at him though. Her eyes had grown glassy and distant. Slowly, she dropped to her knees. Her head dipped forward – she looked like a doll someone had carefully set down into a kneeling pose.

Meier looked from Lilium to D. D's right hand twitched.

Meier moved quickly then. He swept Lilium up and turned. D's sword cut the corner of Meier's inky cape off, but missed much else. Meier carried Lilium to the carriage. Within moments, the horses were urged into movement by Mashira's whip.

Nida cried out in alarm and ran after them. It had happened too quick for her to follow. She was pissed. She knew she could have talked Lilium into coming back!

D stopped her.

"You can't chase them on foot."

"Nor can you," the Barbarois elder interjected. He glided over to them, a quizzical expression on his wrinkled face.

"That girl – you know, I believe she may truly mean the words she says." He gestured.

Two of the more human-looking Barbarois led in two horses – Nida's, and a fresh mount for D.

"Take them and go. If that girl continues to stand in your way, I somehow doubt the Master needs any further protection from us."

Somehow, Nida felt the old man was mocking D.

» » » » » » » » » » » » Ω « « « « « « « « « « « «

Lilium had passed out almost as soon as Meier had lifted her from the ground. Meier was concerned – he didn't fully understand what had happened. He held her in his arms, cradled against his chest.

He did, however, know three things after that exchange in the Barbarois village.

D was formidable – Meier may not stand up against him in a one-on-one match if it continued past where it had stopped at the village.

Lilium's "episode" was echoed by D's sudden showing of his Vampiric side.

And finally... when D had made a move to dispatch his enemy, it wasn't Meier he had been aiming for.

» » » » » » » » » » » » Ω « « « « « « « « « « « «

"What the fuck is wrong with you," Nida snarled. Her teeth gritted, she rode next to D yet again. "Have you _never_ heard of diplomacy?"

It had been two hours since they left the Barbarois camp. Those two hours had been spent in sulky silence as Nida brewed over what had happened. She felt sure she could have convinced Lilium to come back with her, had she been given the chance. But, nooooo, D had to go all Rambo on their asses. She had finally gotten tired of the silence as they rode on the trail of the carriage, toward the desert.

D remained silent. Nida urged her horse forward and cut in front of him, angling her steed so that she blocked his path. The horse shied again, not wanting to be so near him, but she gave it a pat as she glared at the gorgeous youth. D pulled his horse to a stop and stared back at her, eyes hidden in the shadow from his wide brimmed traveler's hat.

"You attacked _Lilium!_ You just hauled off and took a swing, and if that guy hadn't RE-kidnapped her, she would be dead! She wasn't even defending herself!" Nida pointed up the road. The tracks from the cyborg team and carriage were faintly visible on the hard-packed earth. "What the hell is up with you? You act all chivalrous one minute, then you're being all crazy the next! Are you emotionally unbalanced or something?"

D's soft voice interrupted her rant.

"Your friend needs to learn to control herself. When she stopped concentrating on her anger and let herself become vulnerable, she broke into my memories again. They were not pleasant ones." Nida stared at D, confused. She shook her head.

"I don't get it. So, you were pissed off that she saw something you didn't like so you tried to bisect her?"

"No. It would seem she has the ability to force someone's mind into the past."

"You mean.. it wasn't really Lilium you were trying to kill. I guess it's a good thing Meier saved her then, man wouldn't you have felt like a shit!" Though Nida seriously doubted he would have felt bad at all, maybe disappointed at himself... for maybe two seconds.

"Meier did not save her. I hesitated when I realized what was happening." D's voice was calm, matter-of-fact. D was so fast that even a vampire count could not truly beat him if D moved first. Nida decided that if she ever had to fight him, she'd fire first, and from as far away as she could get.

"If that's the case, though, why isn't she causing anyone else trouble?"

D pulled on the reigns, and his horse backed up. He urged it forward and around Nida's mount. She wheeled her own horse around and nudged it into a trot so as to keep up with him. His final reply was devoid of any emotion, but Nida suspected he was more bothered by the situation than he let on.

"I don't know."

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Lilium's head hurt.

It hurt a looooot.

"Whahapp'n'd?" she mumbled into Meier's chest. When she registered it as his chest, she jerked backward. Meier's arm around her shoulders kept her from falling backward from her seat in his lap to his coffin. They were in the carriage, and she wasn't sure how long she had been unconscious. She looked up at him, blushing a little – she was, after all, only seventeen-going-on-eighteen, and didn't have a lot of experience (read: no experience) with waking up in a man's arms. It also felt awkward because she was sure Charlotte would be alarmed by this sight.

"You collapsed when confronting D. He attempted to cut your head off."

Lilium's eyes widened. Meier sounded angry. There was a certain possessiveness to the way he held her. His eyes were narrowed, and in the dim artificial light of the carriage, his eyes shone with in inner light.

"It wasn't his fault," she murmured, voice rusty from sleep. She cleared her throat. "I think I made him do it."

Meier looked down at her, his aristocratic features drawn into an expression of shock. Lilium smiled up at him sheepishly.

"Something... I... Since I came here --" she stopped mid-sentence. A flush crawled up her cheeks. He stared down at her, one eyebrow arched. She sighed. "Come on, you didn't notice? I'm _so_ not from around here."

She explained falling asleep in one place and waking up in the other. She told him about the odd pull she felt when D was around, and her odd trips into what seemed like his mind. It explained the Hunter's lack of focus around her. She also admitted her empathy felt heightened, and she was deeply disturbed by it.

Meier didn't make much comment, but seemed lost in thought. Finally, she asked where they were.

"We're in the desert. The carriage is having trouble passing through the sand, so it will be dawn before we reach the other side. However, I do believe they are quite a ways behind us."

By 'they", he surely meant D and Nida. And they had not seen hide nor hair of the Brothers Markus since the bridge incident.

Lilium moved from Meier's lap to the seat next to him. She looked up at him after a while, and tilted her head at the tiny smile playing at his lips.

"Meier Link, what are you smiling about?" she asked with a playful poke to his side. He looked down at her.

"It sound to me like the girl from another time and the Vampire Hunter D are connected by the red thread of fate."

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D and Nida reached the desert by dawn. The tracks from the carriage disappeared into the sand. It would be impossible to follow them exactly as the winds in the desert covered the tracks made within it in only a matter of hours, and they were about two hours behind due a need to rest the horses.

They moved into the desert quickly. It was dangerous, even in daylight, and the best thing to do would be to cross quickly.

As they began to cross, D stopped. Nida pulled up behind him. Her horse was fidgeting.

The cracked earth leading into the sand dunes was rumbling. Fine sand lifted into the sky. Spouts of sand and dust burst skyward as huge sand mantas flew into the sky. Nida gaped.

She turned to D. "What the hell's with that? Do we go under them?"

"We'll catch one as it goes up and jump across them. It will take us across faster," D advised. He didn't give her rime to protest. Trusting in her new found equestrian skills, Nida followed close behind as D's horse gave a leap.

They were suddenly on the back of one of the monstrous creatures. They began jumping from one to the other as they passed in the sky, only feet from each other.

But as this story has shown, luck never really _is_ on our heroes' sides.

Nida somehow managed to land her horse's steel clod cyborg hooves on a sensitive spot on one of the mantas. Squealing angrily, its giant tail whipped up and around....

... and impaled D through the chest. The Hunter grunted and fell back. Cursing loudly, Nida slid off her horse as soon as she landed. She ran over to D, who was splayed back on the saddle, on the horse's rump. His hat had fallen off, and his eyes stared blankly at the sky.

Nida jumped when a rough voice let out a curse louder than Nida's had been.

"Always through the goddamn heart!"

D's left arm twitched and rose. A grizzled face appeared in his left palm. His arm twisted awkwardly to look at Nida. The little face with the impossibly deep voice gave her a disgusted look.

"He's always getting stabbed through the goddamn heart! You know, I'm the secret to his survival – if he didn't have me, he'd have been dead a long time ago!" the face snarled. The possessed arm looked back to survey the damage. A hooked barb the size of a spearhead had pierced D's chest. Red blood oozed out of the wound and trickled to the ground.

"I don't have all I need to take care of this here – there's a field on the other side, I can get proper earth there... And I'll need some water from your pack, some fire – we can use the portable lantern. Once I've got all that, we can pull the barb out and I can get him up." The left hand pointed to D's saddlebags.

"Could you please get some rope out of there and tie him to the horse so he doesn't fall off? And slap his hat over his face so it doesn't burn in the sunlight."

Nida was too shocked to really protest, and she knew that if she went head to head with Meier and his bodyguards, she would need D's help. She fetched the hat and covered D's face. His left arm moved to rest over where his eyes were, weighing the black traveler's hat down and leaving the palm exposed so the symbiont could talk.

"Now that Grumpy's down for the count, while you're helping me out, why don't I tell you some stories?" the Left Hand snickered. Nida's eyes brightened.

"Yaay, story time!" she cheered as she knotted a rope around D's torso. It was made of super-strength micro titanium wires woven together with nylon and coated with a special oil that kept the metal from rusting and the rope smooth. D wasn't going to fall off any time soon.

Nida followed the hand's directions through the forest. She used the silver bolts she had left to fend off the occasional desert creature – giant scorpions, the occasional sand worm – and the Left Hand inhaled – to Nida's morbid amazement – a cloud of purple mist that was some sort of dissolving demon that would have settled over D and his horse and dissolved and digested him within a 15 minute timespan.

"What's up with D and bridges?" Nida asked at one point. The hand laughed.

"Boy's cursed, I tell you! Two times out of five that we have to cross one, it breaks, he falls off, or something else bad happens," the gravelly voice imparted gleefully. "Usually it's the horse that suffers, and sometimes nothing painful happens at all – it's just funny to watch.

"And let me tell you, bridges aren't the only thing he's got trouble with," the Hand chortled. "Women and chest wounds! Let me tell you about this Puerto Rican whore we ran across once..."

According to the Hand, the "lady of the night" was enamored with D, and would follow him around. She wasn't the first woman to fall for the quiet, beautiful Hunter, for sure, but had been the first to use particularly nefarious means of getting his attention. She had seen to it that every woman around had heard D had enjoyed relations with the whore, and he lost face rather quickly. It was bad enough being a dhampir hunter – now he was relegated to the same type of Hunter trash that passed through that town on a daily basis.

Apparently, the whore and getting stabbed through the chest ended up hand in hand. She'd been enraged when he refused to take her with him, and had caught him off guard and impaled him with a stake. Naturally, Left Hand came to the rescue as he always did, and D was revived and moved on.

Still, the story left Nida in stitches. D had been quite young then, and more trusting than he was now, but still – it gave her some satisfaction to know he wasn't quite the superman Gary Stu he seemed to be.

They reached the end of the desert, Nida leading D's horse while they galloped full tilt. It was a bizarre stretch of land, only thirty miles across but nearly a hundred long – a result of defective weather control equipment in the area.

They found a good patch of land with loose enough soil. Nida untied D and tried to lower him to the ground.. but his foot was stuck in the left stirrup. The horse got spooked by Nida's annoyed shout (apparently, D's horse charming skills didn't work when he was... well... dead) and it ran off. Nida gave half-hearted chase on foot, trying not to laugh as it he hung upside down from the horse and was dragged across the grass.

Finally, Nida walked the horse back to the spot where her own was tethered to a lone apple tree and freed D from the horse. His body dropped heavily to the ground. The left hand was howling with laughter.

"D-don't tell him that happened, he... He'll cut me off for sure for letting it!" the Left Hand wheezed as it caught its breath once it was done laughing. "Okay.. down to business."

As Nida lit the portable stove, the Left Hand began using D's fingers to dig into the dirt. Nida heard crunching sounds from where it was digging and noticed that, although a hole was appearing, the dirt itself was gone.

"Are you eating the dirt?" she asked curiously, hands limp at her sides as she gazed down at the hand burrowing into the earth. Her reply was a small belch.

"Yep. I need earth, air, fire and water --"

"Gonna summon Captain Planet? Wait, you still need Heart -"

"- to heal his wounds and revive him." The hand sucked in air next. Wind roared in a small cyclone, sucked deep into the core of whatever the Hand had for a stomach. When it stopped, a rush of answering wind – air replacing the vacuum that had been created in the atmosphere around them – nearly knocked Nida off of her feet.

"Shit! Can you blow as hard as you suck?"

"I can create hurricane force winds," the hand replied proudly. It finally turned to the small portable stove. A blue thermonuclear flame burned clear and bright in its base. The hand began sucking the flame into its mouth. When it was done, the stove had completely shut down. "This is useless now," the hand said, its small mouth glowing white-hot. "That's damn delicious. My favorite kind of fire!"

Last, Nida emptied the water skein into the small mouth. It was a bit unnerving to watch the water disappear into D's palm, little gulping sounds coming from somewhere around his wrist.

"How the hell do you hold all of that?" she asked.

"That's my own little secret, and I'll never tell," the hand chuckled. "I could use more water, but I think I've got enough to do what I need to do."

Nida stood back and watched as the hand reached up and took the tip of the stinger in his mouth. With a jerk of D's wrist and a wet tearing sound, the barb tore free. It spat the barb to the ground, and the girl was impressed with how far it arced before sticking into the grass several feet away. The wound on D's chest began to close.

Within moments, D's body was devoid of damage. All that remained was the hole in his breast plate and cape. Left Hand gave D's chest a couple of sound thumps. Air rasped into D's lungs, and the dhampir suddenly stood in such a fluid moment, Nida jumped back a step in surprise.

"Hey, you're alive!" she cheered. "Your hand was telling me some great stories about a Puerto Rican whore. He wouldn't tell me shit about the sex, so I checked you for genital warts while you were unconscious."

D turned his head and stared at her.

"Last time I saw a barbed penis like that, it was on a mountain lion!" she said with a smile, and walked over to her horse. She patted its neck and looked at him.

"Now that you've wasted our precious time with dying and all, why don't we get going?" Nida's boyish grin was wasted on D however. He calmly retrieved his hat and readied his horse, settling into the saddle with a graceful mounting technique Nida envied.

The two set off across the plains toward yet another forest in the distance. Once they found the carriage's tracks, half the day was gone – they hoped to catch up before nightfall.

The two rode off, leaving the desert behind.

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Author's Note: A huge thank you to the REAL Nida for helping me with the section where D enters her mind through Left Hand. I was having trouble capturing her essence there.

I acknowledge that Nida used the word "gank" (in MMORPG or online game terms, to kill dishonorably or as a large group versus smaller group or one person) incorrectly, but if you consider how overpowered D is, then yes, yes, they totally ganked the Barbarois.

If the reference to Puerto Rican whores offends you, replace "Puerto Rican" with any nationality that you're okay with, such as American, Canadian, Cambodian, or North Polish :3

If you were expecting a Steve Irwin death reference, NONE FOR YOU. Remember, this story was begun before that happened, so Steve Irwin was still alive in Nida's timeline.

Okay... as a warning.

For those of you who liked the lighthearted feel of the first chapters, I'm presenting to you the following, and you... well.. you may not want to keep reading.

**Vampire Hunter D: Unsettling Futures**

_**Chapter 0**_

"_**The Way It Could Have Ended"**_

As D and Nida were riding down the road, a huge rainbow appeared! At one end was Lilium, and at the other were Meier and Charlotte (it was a really short rainbow). In the middle were the Brothers Markus and Nida's other friends, Tsukai and Kaiou. Grove was miraculously healed and no longer skeletal. Leila wore a blue sun dress and a ribbon on her head.

Kyle bent over and rainbows shot from his ass. Everyone cheered. Charlotte and Meier ran away together and lived a happy life, having many babies. Nida and Lilium hooked up and also made many babies, though no one knows how because they don't have the equipment. Caroline and D got together and won an award for Most Unlikely Couple. Tsukai and Grove got married in Canada and also had many physically impossible babies. There is speculation that all the babies they and Nida and Lilium had were the result of sperm donations from Greg Kinnear and that a giant panda gave birth to them, resulting in odd skin coloring.

Everyone lived happily ever after!

The End.

....

Okay, now for those of you who aren't as attached to the fluff, please keep reading.

Only a few chapters left before this story draws to a close.

Please stay with us.

It's been such a long ride.... and I hope you're enjoying it.

I know we are. : )


	9. Unraveling

Kyle was what you might call a very bad person. He was charismatic, to a point, and generally did a good job of hiding his truest intentions. However, it is safe to say that of the brothers themselves, he was the worst kind of people, and none of them were really that nice, except for maybe Grove, and to an extend, Nolt.

But we'll get to that later.

At the moment, the Brothers Markus were plodding along, only a few miles away from a small hamlet called Duray. It was a painfully average hamlet, with boringly average people. They would barely notice the Markuses come, and wouldn't care when they left, so long as the brothers minded their own and didn't cause a ruckus.

The Brothers Markus eventually reached the small village. In talking to a few shopkeeps as they searched for a mechanic, they learned that nearby, there was indeed an ancient human-built fortress, which had been abandoned many years ago. Interestingly enough, the last few weeks, lights had come on in the fortress at night. This town was an average town with average people, and none were brave enough to check it out – they all believed it was some form of ghast or specter.

The brothers knew otherwise, however. They pushed on, unable to find a skilled mechanic in the village to send back to Leila. She would just have to wait.

"What do we do when we get there?" Nolt rumbled from atop his cyborg horse, which looked like a pony under his girth.

An unsettling grin slowly split Kyle's face, and his eyes stared fixedly ahead.

"Whatever we fuckin' want."

**Unsettling Futures**

**By Jamie Carlson (a.k.a. Cardinal Syn)**

**and (the real) Nida Richards  
Chapter Nine: **  
"Unraveling"

Lilium sat in silence, nibbling on the tip of her thumb rather than the nail itself. Meier's teasing remark echoed in her head, leaving a sour taste in her mouth.

"_It sounds to me like the girl from another time and the Vampire Hunter D are connected by the red thread of fate._"

Red thread of fate her rear. It couldn't be something so silly, could it? Of course not, Meier was only teasing her. There was probably some other explanation that wasn't quite so embarrassing or unsettling.

Wasn't there?

They had reached the other side as Meier had predicted, just as the sun's rays began to peek over the horizon. Meier himself was asleep in his coffin, and Lilium sat alone, brooding. She heard bits and pieces of muffled conversation from Mashira and Caroline, and occasionally heard the green-garbed woman's tinkling laughter.

Lilium crossed her legs at the knees, and leaned back, hands clasped on the raised knee. She pouted, her small mouth puckered out.

What was the chance they were going to be able to remain ahead of the hunter and Nida? Should she have gone with her friend when she had the chance? Would she have been able to, even if it had been her choice to do so? She didn't get very far before whatever it was between herself and the vampire hunter was triggered.

Torn between the desire to see to it that Meier reached his lover and the desire to be with her friends again, Lilium sank slowly into a depression that numbed her from the world outside. Her mind drifted back to the visions she had seen, borrowed from D's mind. Were those women all important to him? Is that why he held them in a place she could sense?

A heavyset girl with a spear in an ice-draped fishing village... the girl with the whip... a woman with a chain weapon who flickered back and forth from coveralls and a biker's helmet to a revealing dress encrusted with jewels, fine wooden needles protruding from her bleeding breast.

Lilium shook her head, trying to dispell those images, and wondered again if the sadness she felt was really her own.

It was midday when the carriage rolled to a halt. Curious, Lilium slid the shade away from the small porthole-style window to her left and peered out. They were in a dense forest, and it was terribly dark. The canopy above nearly eliminated the light. The door to her right opened, and Mashira crawled inside.

"Caroline is standing guard outside," his gruff voice assured her as he clicked the door shut. "Given our circumstances, we need to devise a plan. The Hunter is likely to gain on us – cyborg horses without a carriage are likely to handle the sands better, and there is a good chance they may catch up to us before nightfall."

Lilium's fingers danced in a quick pattern, thumb-to-pinky, thumb-to-ringfinger, thumb-to-middle finger, thumb-to-index, tips touching, and back again, an OCD sign of agitation and stress. If they caught up, it meant more fighting.

"Master," Mashira's voice rose to carry through the coffin. "I propose we split up – I will stay behind to try and ward off the Hunter and his companion."

"No, it is too dangerous." Meier's voice seemed so close, he could have been sitting right next to the werewolf. Mashira was used to the telepathy, but Lilium jumped. "I would rather we stay together, and do battle as one if it comes to it."

Lilium's nervous tic stopped as she closed her hand into a fist. She dreaded the possibility of a fight breaking out.

"It is best if it is me alone, Master," Mashira said gently. "I can buy you more time. We are so close – and if he breaks past me, Caroline will be able to delay him further. You and the young miss here will reach Charlotte within then next two evenings."

The silence stretched on. Finally, Meier's voice, full of reluctance, responded.

"If this is your desire, Mashira, do as you please."

"Thank you, Master. I will wait here and stall them as much as I can."

As Mashira reached out to open the carriage door again, Lilium's hand met his. Her expressive eyes reflected her worry. Her concern was for Mashira, and for Nida.

"Please... don't get yourself killed... and..."

"I will do all I can to keep your friend from harm," Mashira responded gently. "I will even let him pass undeterred. He seems more interested in taking you home and seeing to your safety... which may be best for you. D is my target." Mashira thought the androgynous youth was a boy. Nida would be happy.

"Mashira... please come back, when this is all over. You're not a bad person... and I don't want to see something bad happen to you."

"I have no intention of dying, my dear."

Lilium felt a shiver run through her as she gazed in Mashira's golden eyes, at the hardness she saw there. They glowed in the dim artificial lighting in the carriage. She nodded, once, and moved her hand away from his.

Mashira's heart skipped. This sensation... trust. She trusted him to do right by his words, and to do all he could to keep her friend and himself from severe harm. And now.. he had made his promise, and he had to keep it.

He would have to distract the Hunter... and do his best to keep himself from dying. As long as he did his best, he would fulfill that promise, even though he knew quite well that he would not be coming back.

» » » » » » » » » » » » Ω « « « « « « « « « « « «

As they left Mashira behind, the carriage sped down the trail, pushing to reach the end of the forest. Lilium held fast to her seat, tossed about as she was by the rough bouncing of the vehicle. Meier lay in his coffin, half asleep, but could not drift off into his deathlike slumber, his anxiety keeping him half awake. Caroline kept her sharp eyes ahead, melding her legs partway with the driver's seat to keep herself in place as she urged the horses on.

It is unfortunate that none of them had realized how old that map in the Barbarois caverns had been. Not even Meier had realized how much the volatile terrain of the Frontier could change in such a small amount of time. For in the hundreds of years since the map had been drawn, the forest had grown. The end of the forest would take them further away from the fortress where Charlotte hid, not closer to it, as Meier had believed.

If they had only realized this... perhaps things would not have ended up as they did....

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Nida looked over at D. He was fully functioning.. the only evidence of his death the hole in his armor and cloak. She wondered where you could get one of those symbiots, then decided she would hate having something that could talk back to her all the time. If she could control it, it might have been a better idea. Or maybe she could get a little slave boy who had the symbiot and could use its power to revive her... and he would have to wear cute little shorts and....

A blissful smile on her lips, Nida didn't hear D at first. When she finally tuned in, she ralized she missed most of what he'd said.

'... on the left path."

"I'm sorry, what?"

D glanced over at her. She'd been daydreaming.

"The road forks ahead. The carriage wheels are generic, and it looks as though another carriage has been through here recently. The same number of horses, so likely a farmer or merchant carrying their wares. We need to split up here. You should stay on the left path." Nida had missed more than she'd thought. There was only barest edge of annoyance to his deep voice.

Nida looked at the two paths. The left path was wider, more well-travelled, and the canopy above was less dense, allowing more dappled patches of light through.

"Which path would they be more likely to take?" Nida asked suspiciously.

"The right path."

"Then why are you sending me left?"

"Because there is a chance they have taken advantage of the situation and split up. If they were to take the less harsh route, and I were to follow through the more dangerous trail, I would lose more time." He nodded to the dense woods. "There are far more dangerous creatures through here as well, and although you handled yourself well in the village, there is far less room to maneuver. If you move quickly, that path should take you to approximately the same place this path will lead out on – even if I am wrong, or unable to catch them in the forest, you may cut them off before they have a chance to escape."

Nida thought about this for a bit, then nodded. She didn't have much of a choice but to trust what he told her, and D didn't seem like a liar. He'd provided more of an explanation than she expected – he'd spoken more words in one conversation than he normally did in a whole day – and she decided to cooperate.

"Okay, I'll trust you this time."

Nida urged the cyborg horse into a full run down the lighter, better-traveled path. D watched her disappear into the trees, then turned his attention to the winding trail before him. Thick brush stood on either side. The cries of the odd forest creature could be heard. D pushed on, following the tracks.

He had not lied. He did not know for certain which tracks belonged to the Barbarois and their vampire master. However... he also knew that the pulling feeling came from this direction. The feeling he had experienced since he had met the white-clad girl in the inn in Gaelin.

D disappeared into the forest, the light fading into near total darkness as he pushed on, following the beacon that was the girl in the white dress, considering what methods could sever this tie for good.

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Mashira stood on the path, facing the oncoming hooves, and the dark shadow of his death.

He was about to leap at the on comer when he felt his body grow cold from shock. There was only one set of hooves. The rider of the steed... was certainly not D.

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It hit her suddenly. The man standing in the road was certainly the man from the carriage – the cute furry guy. Nida reigned in her horse and stared down at the man, annoyed.

"Don't tell me – you separated from the rest of them?"

Mashira, gritting his teeth, glared up at the angry looking "boy". He spat a curse and threw himself into the trees. Nida called after him, turning her horse and recklessly following on the small hunting trail he fled down. There was barely room for her horse, let alone herself. She had to lean down over the steed's thick neck, but still her face and clothes were torn at by branches and twigs.

Mashira was fast, Nida was hard pressed to keep up with him. But follow was all she intended to do, as he would likely lead her to the carriage, or at least, back to D.

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The path had opened up fairly suddenly as they neared a clearing in the middle of the forest. The increased light outside was comforting to Lilium, and even to Caroline. They were passing through the small clearing when Lilium stood suddenly, pounding on the roof of the carriage. The tugging sensation in her heart had returned, full force, stronger than before. The Hunter was getting close.

"Caroline! Stop! GAH!" Lilium was pitched forward as the alarmed Barbarois woman pulled the reigns, stopping the team of six. Lilium rubbed her forehead where it had come into contact with the edge of Meier's coffin. Skin crawling, she rolled off and onto the floor when she realized she was stretched across the long box.

Grimacing, she pushed the carriage door open and stepped out. She hesitated before closing the door, then shut it and secured it carefully.

"What the hell are you doing?" Caroline snapped, standing at full height on top of the carriage.

"D's coming, and he's getting closer."

"What?" Caroline whipped around to look back through the trees. She could not see nor hear his horse. The path behind them was dark.

"I'll stay here."

Slowly, Caroline turned to look down on the solemn figure of the girl, suddenly so tiny in the forest, surrounded by gargantuan trees, dress shimmering in the dim twilight created by the canopy high above. Patches of light illuminated the ground here sporadically. The lush grass here was high and fragrant everywhere but on the small path.

"You'll lose your life, child."

"He's not going to kill an unarmed person.. and.. even of he does, well, that's my own fault."

Caroline sighed and put her hands on her waist. "Well, Master?"

There was a pause, then Meier's voice slid over them.

"Lilium.. are you sure about this? It is very dangerous."

"Yes." Lilium walked away from the carriage, not looking back. She stood on the path, facing the shadows. Reluctance etched in her movements, Caroline nodded and sat down, flicking the reigns to indicate to the horses that it was time to go. Lilium could feel Meier's concern as they pulled away, and Caroline's relief to be going.

In the forest, alone, Lilium stood, and waited.

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The Brothers had to pass back through the forest in order to reach the fortress where they knew Charlotte to be hiding. Swearing, Borgov killed a biting fly that had landed on his massive forearm, the slap muffled in the humid woods. They were single-file on a small trail, and, little did they know, were growing nearly parallel to the trail upon which Mashira ran to reach the carriage. Mashira was a good half-mile away, however, but would draw near soon enough.

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Nida finally got tired of chasing after Mashira, and decided that the man had to be lost. She fired a silver bolt from the wrist-mounted mini crossbow strapped to her right arm, aiming carefully as she bobbed up and down on the horse. Mashira skidded to a halt and spun about, turning to face her.

Sighing, she knocked another bolt into place.

"Look, I've been chasing you for like, thirty minutes -" it had only been ten "- and you don't seem to know where you're going. So why don't you just tell me where you expect the carriage to be, and I'll look for it on my own."

Mashira growled low in his throat. Fur erupted over his body as he shifted into a more feral form, his head taking the form of a wolf's face. A second wolf's head appeared from his abdomen. Nida dismounted, keeping the wolfman in the sights of the crossbow.

"I do not wish to fight you." Mashira's voice somehow wound its way out from between the elongated jaw and muzzle of his wolf head, somewhat slurred and far more gravelly than before. _I am trying to lead to you a place where your horse can cross_, Mashira thought angrily.

"I dunno, you look pretty ready." Her voice calm and as cheerful as ever, Nida took a few steps toward Mashira.

"I told that girl that no harm would come to you, boy, so if you fire, I cannot respond." Mashira straightened, the fur he had grown disappearing as he reverted to his "normal" form. He was bound by his word.

Nida lowered her arm, disappointed. She was hoping she would be able to knock information out of him or something. She opened her mouth to speak when she heard it.

"-- kill her!"

Mashira and Nida froze. As if sensing danger, even Nida's horse became unnaturally still.

It was a voice Nida recognized quite well.

"We need her alive for the rest of our reward, you jackass."

Another familiar voice. A hard knot formed in Mashira's stomach.

"No, we don't!" Glee filled the first, lighter voice. Glee and... excitement. "Like he said, if she's been turned, we kill her anyway! Just bring something back to show we did it!"

"Wait, you mean just off the broad and tell her dad she was a vampire when we found her?" Booming laughter shook the trees and frightened the few birds that sat in the branches above.

"Shit, Kyle, this is the first good idea you've had all fucking week!"

"What?! I have lots of great ideas, you just never want to go along with them!"

"Yeah, because you always want to do something stupid when we'd get **caught**."

"I'm not sure if we really need to do that..." a third, deeper voice interjected. A snorting, derisive laugher erupted from Kyle.

"Shut up, you goddamn softy."

Nida and Mashira exchanged a silent look. Mashira was quivering with anger. So the men hired to save her, would kill poor, unsuspecting Charlotte. Mashira moved as if to leap through the trees and cross the stand of tall evergreens that hid the brothers from sight, but Nida held up a hand and shook her head sharply. She beckoned and turned, slowly following the voices as they argued and joked.

Taking the horse's reigns, she "shushed" the horse, and it apparently understood, as it walked slowly and softly. They kept to the grassy median in the middle of the trail, minimizing the sound of the horse's hooves and her own footsteps. Mashira followed close behind.

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A chill breeze whispered through the trees in the clearing. Down its center a long, straight path cut through the nearly circular meadow. In the middle stood the lone white-dressed girl. On either end, the trail disappeared into the darkness of the forest floor. The sun had shifted, and its dappled rays fell at the girl's feet, tentatively touching the hem of her long dress and spilling out on the ground before her, leaving her in shadow.

Darkness coalesced at the end of the trail before her, taking the shape of a man on horseback. The gentle breeze seemed to reject him and became a sudden gust, whipping his cloak out behind him, tugging at his long hair. Lilium's dress flowed out about her legs like thin mist.

The two stood motionless, facing each other in silence on that lonely road.

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Leila turned, blue eyes wide, mouth slack. Kaiou stood feet away, disturbed by the sight before her, but shocked into silence. Grove closed his eyes in shame, straining feebly against the simple bonds on his wrists, biting down on the cloth in his mouth.

Kaiou intensely regretted entering the tank now. So what if Tsukai had gotten her clothes wet? They would dry quickly in the heat and sunlight. Dry pants suddenly didn't seem so important anymore. She watched as Leila leaned forward and tugged her massive concussion gun from its holster, which lay near Grove's head.

Leila twisted in place, leveling her gun at Kaiou's chest. Her naked body gleamed with sweat, and the slow, rhythmic movement of her waist resumed as a deranged grin spread parted her reddened lips.

"Well. You're just going to have to join me now, aren't you."

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As quickly as allies had been gained, they had been lost by an unwitting forest confession. Unbeknownst to the lovers, the very path that he follows to reach her is pulling them further apart. At the desert oasis, a woman's true face shows, setting herself and others on a path that had no safe destination....

--

Author's Note: As an update, I changed Lilium's last name from Tenshi to Noir in chapters one and three, and corrected her age. If you are curious, in this story, Lilium is about seventeen, almost eighteen; Tsukai is around eighteen; Nida is likely to have just turned twenty, and Kaiou is around her age.

Is this M yet? I may need to up the rating already....

This chapter really just sets everything up for the last one or two. I may just do one final, long chapter. We'll see. My outline, which covers the story from the last chapter to the end, is still only completed halfway, so there may be more than that.

Regarding the part with Leila (I got a question from my beta reader), this was being set up in the opening to chapter 8. This gets further detail explanation in the next chapter, I promise. Though you may not want the details O_o


	10. Breaking Point

"Well. You're just going to have to join me now, aren't you."

The last thing Kaiou had really expected in this bizarre journey was happening now. If anyone was going to sexually assault her, by rights it should have been one of the men. Kyle, maybe. Not that she would have minded that _too_ much, but this – this was just pissing her off.

It was bad enough, really, that she was taking advantage of Grove. That was kind of gross. He was all skin and bone. Maybe he was Tsukai's type, but it just didn't do it for Kaiou.

Neither did the uncomfortably rough way Leila had tied her wrists together and to some random piece of jutty metal in the tank. And the way she had been spread-eagled was equally uncomfortable, mainly because a cramp was forming in her left hip and thigh, and she was tied too well to shift in a way that relieved the pain.

All other things considered, she probably would have enjoyed this, if it wasn't for Grove's self-pitying weeping, and Leila's obvious inexperience – or lack of interest in the mutual pleasure of another woman. Tch, selfish.

As things stood, Kaiou was quite unhappy. Leila had a beautiful body, but that expression on her face was not doing her any favors. Kaiou yelped as Leila's unkempt nails scratched her on the inside, not a pleasant sensation. She tried to tell her to watch the nails, but the gag made that difficult. That was another thing that bugged her. Some nasty rag stuffed in her mouth! It tasted like sweat and ass. Or worse, sweaty ass.

Leila was once again just getting into her fun time when the door to the tank creaked open and a cheerful Tsukai bounded in, his arms full of ripe coconuts.

"Look what I fou - " Shock spread across his features. Several loud thuds echoed in the suddenly silent tank as he dropped his armful of randomly placed fruit, and a choking sound escaped him.

**Unsettling Futures**

**By Jamie Carlson (a.k.a. Cardinal Syn)**

**and (the real) Nida Richards  
Chapter Ten: **  
"Breaking Point"

"Goddamn it!" Borgov violently kicked the corpse of his horse.

It had been showing some signs of trouble for a while, but they didn't have time to stop and rest. And now, the poor creature had finally given up the ghost, collapsing on the forest path. Kyle rolled his eyes.

"You sure as hell aren't getting my horse. You can walk back to town and get a new one."

Borgov threw his brother a steely look, then sighed and rubbed the back of his massive neck. "Sonovabitch... Fine. You guys go on ahead, we don't have time to dawdle. Don't kill her before I get there though, you hear me?"

The last part was shouted at the quickly retreating backs of his younger brothers. Snorting in disgust, Borgov unhooked his saddle bag from the horse and thew it across one shoulder. He had just clenched a cigar between his teeth when a sudden rustling sound caught his attention. Hands poised to light the cigar, he stared, dumbfounded, at the two figures that emerged from the brush.

"Alex". And that furry bastard who was traveling with Count Meier Link. Neither of them looked too happy.

It clicked as he looked from Nida's cold golden eyes to Mashira's burning orbs.

"So. I get the feeling you heard more than you should have."

"I get the feeling you killed a perfectly good horse!" Nida/Alex snapped, losing all pretense. Her voice was back to normal, just a little higher in pitch than her usual "Alex" voice. They were going to kill Charlotte and, even worse!, he had killed a horse! Unforgivable!

Borgov was taken aback by this a bit, and even Mashira tossed Nida an uncertain glance, wondering if the horse took higher precedence than Charlotte to this creature. Realizing that yes, it did, he simply shrugged mentally and returned his attention to Borgov.

Mashira appreciated Borgov's skill, his muscles, the way he clenched that long, tantalizingly shaped cigar in his teeth... but he couldn't forgive the plot against the lady Charlotte.

"Do you always kill the women you are hired to rescue?" Mashira's accusatory tone made Borgov twitch a little. He paced back a bit as Mashira began to stalk toward him, muscles bunching for a spring. He knocked a bolt into his wrist-mounted crossbow.

"Hell no! But.. this girl's different. I'm sure she'll be happy to die, knowing we're gonna kill that sumbitch vampire lover of hers! Hell, who would want dead dick anyway? She's out of her gord!" Borgov sneered cruelly. The sneer vanished, however, when he felt a sharp, sudden pain in his heart. He looked down.

The tip of one of his own arrows protruded from his chest. The razor-sharp edges were more than a match for the leathers he wore. Eyes widening, he turned slowly to stare at Nida. When had she moved?

She stood behind him now, arm still raised from firing the bolt. Her expression was as blank and cold as a statue of the angel of death. He finally really noticed her more feminine features – the long lashes around the golden brown eyes that seemed to narrow like a cat's, the faint hint of breasts peaking up underneath the black vest she wore, the slender build of her neck - and the last thought in Borgov's mind as he dropped dead to the floor was how it was such a pity he hadn't gotten a chance to bang the little tomboy.

Mashira looked down at the corpse, throughly disappointed. Neither had he had an honorable, bloody fight with that man, nor had he had an honorable, bloody romp with him. What a waste.

"I realize that he was going to die anyway, but that wasn't an honorable way to end his life," Mashira commented casually.

The wolfman's eyes followed Nida's movement as she plucked the cigar from the ground where it had rolled away from Borgov's open mouth. She brushed it off and broke off the end Borgov had bitten down on, turning it around to stick the other end in her mouth. Around the unlit cigar, which tasted pleasantly of tobacco and some sort of flavor that didn't make her gag (which she appreciated, as it would have ruined the effect), she said to Mashira:

"Fucker killed a perfectly good horse."

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Tsukai did the only thing he could really think of in the moment.

Coconuts began flying through the air.

Leila cursed and rolled leaned out of the way of an incoming nut. The coconut struck Kaiou on the forehead instead. A screech followed by rapid angry mumbling erupted around the gag. Leila reached for her weapon, dodging the volley of coconuts and turning her back on Tsukai.

Out of fruit to throw, Tsukai roared and bum-rushed the naked woman. Leila turned and drove her fist into Tsukai's solar plexus, sending the younger man reeling back, mouth dropped in surprise. Air rushed from his mouth as he fell back and collapsed, curling around his midsection. Pain lit his eyes as he looked up at Leila with naked hate.

Leila smirked, retrieving her gun and aiming it at Tsukai's head.

"This is going to be one hell of a mess to clean up before the boys get home."

A strange rasping cry ripped through the air as Grove tore himself free of the tie around his hands, skeletal frame lurching toward Leila. Startled, she turned toward him, pulling the trigger on her air-compression gun.

The sound was like a small, wet explosion. Kaiou stopped struggling and snarling against the gag and stared, tawny eyes wide and round. Tsukai's expression turned from hate to horror as Leila slowly lowered the gun.

Grove now sat with his back against the side of the tank, legs folded uncomfortably, head lolled downward as he gazed uncomprehendingly at the soccer-ball sized hole where his heart and lungs were. A deep dent of similar shape, dripping in gore, was visible through the hole in his chest.

Grove's bruised eyes slowly moved from his damaged chest. The feverish light of his gaze began to dim as his eyes met Tsukai's own.

Grove began to slide sideways leaving a trail of gore on the tank wall. Time seemed to slow as Tsukai stood, his eyes never leaving Grove's as the wasting man slumped to his side.

The strained silence finally broke, an enraged roar ripping through Tsukai's throat as he slammed his wiry frame into Leila. Caught off guard, the woman toppled to the floor. Her grip on her gun was firm, but Tsukai pinned his weight on her gun arm. Leila snarled and bucked, trying to rid herself of his weight.

She managed to roll him off, but he was on her again in a flash, before she was able to level the gun. It fired, tearing through the jutting metal Kaiou was tied to.

The blast had freed her hands, but metal shards left scratches in her arms and face. Angry and frantic, Kaiou shook off the shredded ties and began the painful process of leaning sideways enough to catch the leather that bound one foot and then the other. Her eyes flicked from her bonds to the struggling duo in the middle of the cramped space, avoiding looking at the bed where Grove lay. The smell of the gore was making her nauseous.

Leila managed a well-placed blow to Tsukai's jaw, sending him reeling back. Before she could bring the barrel of her gun down on his head, Kaiou grabbed her gun arm. The two fought as Leila scrambled to her feet, Tsukai standing drunkenly a few feet away. He was covered in bruises and a scratch under his left eye bled freely.

He looked to Grove again. As he searched for any trace of life in Grove's blankly staring eyes, there was a flash of white light in his head.

Grove, whole and youthful, stood before him in the light. He was smiling a serene, secret smile. He floated naked in the soft white light. Tsukai could only stare at the man in astonishment, unsure of what was happening.

Grove held out his hand to Tsukai, who hesitantly took it. Grove pulled him close, wrapping lean, strong arms around the slightly shorter Tsukai. He said something, but no sound came from his lips.

He kissed Tsukai then, and the boy felt a thrill of electricity through his whole body. He felt as if thousands of soft hands were caressing his skin and his soul at the same time. Equal parts familiar and strange, he wanted the feeling to continue. He thought he could hear laughter, soft and masculine...

He watched what happened next through eyes that were his but were not.

Leila had slammed Kaiou up against the wall. The younger woman cursed and flopped to the floor, hand to the back of her head. Leila turned back toward Grove/Tsukai, breasts heaving as she drew in harsh breaths, winded by the struggle. Smirking, she raised the gun to point it at Tsukai, but paused in the action, the smirk dissolving as her mouth gaped.

"Grove?" she whispered hoarsely. Tsukai wondered how he must look. He could see the faint ghostly light in Leila's stunned blue eyes as she stared at him, faltering.

"Leila..." Tsukai whispered in a voice that was not Tsukai's. "It seems that.. the Markus Clan... has reached its end... For a while... I did love you, dear Leila..."

"What the hell are you saying? I – you know I didn't mean to shoot you! You attacked me!"

"Leila... I'm so tired... of hurting people..."

"Grove!"

"Our brothers.. won't last. Not against him... you didn't see it, Leila... These children... they were a brief light in our darkness... and it's time for us to move on.." Tsukai's arms raised, an expression of ecstasy spreading across his face. Small balls of light began to form around his frame, which had begun to float inches above the floor. ".. to the next life."

Kaiou screamed and lowered her head as white-hot beams of light sliced through the air above her, burning small holes in the rear of the Markus' tank. Leila's naked body was penetrated repeatedly by the brilliant shafts of light. The gun fell from numb fingers as one of the points of light entered and exited her head.

As Leila's lifeless body fell sideways and landed atop the body of Grove, Tsukai felt a last brief, regretful sigh pass his lips. The ghostly feeling of a hand passed against his cheek.

He felt his heart break as the love he never would know faded form the world of the living, leaving him cold and desolate inside.

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Lilium's lips parted, but she couldn't force her voice out. Standing alone there, no one to back her up, no one to be brave for, she finally felt afraid. Afraid of that cold man and the ease with which he could kill.

He was the picture of loneliness – a grave-looking young man, looking to be barely over eighteen, but with a heavy weight that aged him in her mind. Darkness clung to him, cobwebs on a discarded mannequin. The horse he sat on shifted its head, seeming more alive than even its rider.

She tried again, her voice finally coming in a trembling whisper.

"Stop hunting them."

Lilium wasn't entirely sure what she expected. Perhaps that he would ignore her and ride past, or maybe even cut her in half for standing in his way. He simply sat on his cybernetic horse, staring down at her. The miasma he gave off seemed to cause a breeze that pushed the small wildflowers and low grass of the clearing away from them.

Finally, he spoke.

"Why do you want to protect them?"

Lilium rocked in place, the force in his words – the burning hatred, confusion – sending her reeling before she caught her balance. His eyes were practically glowing under the wide brim of his traveler's hat. Rage directed at her and nothing and everything all at once rolled over her. Her hand went to her heart as tears threatened to spill from her eyes. Unconsciously, her hand went to her neck, feeling the small pinpricks remaining from the single bite she received from Meier Link.

"Why do _you_ want to kill them? No – that isn't fair, I'm answering with a question. I want to protect them because I... I can feel it, _I can feel his love for Charlotte_. I can feel how he means it when he says he wants to live a happy life with her!" Her voice was getting higher in pitch. Tears were falling now, but she wasn't aware of them. "I can feel how sad he is when he acknowledges that they're hoping for a dream, that reality can't be as beautiful as they're hoping – and I _want it _to be beautiful for them!"

Lilium took several steps toward D. His horse shied, startled by the angry woman marching toward it, skirts swirling.

"I want to protect him because he was kind to me. He was angry at Mashira for taking me, angry at Caroline! He wanted to send me back, but... I wouldn't go. He was dying and I don't know how to explain it but I could _feel _it like countless cells in his body were gasping for air, crying in pain."

She was sobbing now, and had to stop to calm herself. She looked scared, not of D but of herself, of what she had been feeling since she had arrived in this world.

"I want to help them... because I would just die if it were me. It's too sad."

"You're a naïve child."

"You're a prick."

"You - " suddenly D was twisted around in his saddle, sword unsheathed, and a grayish, misty mass was floating lifelessly down, the red core of it split in two. It evaporated as Lilium stared, dumbfounded.

"What the - "

"Devourer Mist. We're being surrounded. We need to get out of the forest." D said simply, turning back toward her and urging his mount forward. He was by her side in a second, reaching to her. Lilium stared at his hand like she didn't know what it was.

"I haven't decided yet if you are a slave to Meier Link. Either way, you are not a threat to me, not really. I am going to take you with me, and we will resolve the matter later. Or, you can stay here and let the Mist take you."

Lilium grasped his hand and felt her stomach drop as he hauled her up to his horse. He positioned her side-saddle, his arms holding her in place. She shifted so that her knee was hooked on the saddle horn. Her hands immediately twisted into the mane of the horse.

"I h-hate heights!" she shrieked as they lurched forward, past two of the strange gray mist-monsters that had begun slowly creeping across the path out.

"Where are we going?"

"To your friend, Nida."

Lilium started.

"You just... you saved me, and now you're taking me to Nida?"

"Only until I know for sure whether or not I should kill you."

Lilium just smiled. He could deny it all he liked, but she had felt it – the tiniest ping of worry when he realized they were being surrounded. Worry for her.

Amused, Lilium shut her eyes against the wind as they seemed to reach speeds only a car should be able to match, and held tightly to the horse's strangely silky mane. Though she may have been with the man who may kill her at any moment, she felt safer than she had all day.

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Nida and Mashira had been discussing how best to kill the rest of the Markus Brothers when they turned to the sound of hooves. Nida cried out in surprise and joy when she saw Lilium, pale and clinging desperately to D's horse.

"LIL! And he got you on a horse!"

"Niiidaaaaa!" Lilium practically whined, opening her eyes long enough to confirm her friend was there. When D pulled his horse up next to Nida and Mashira, Lilium began wriggling in his grasp. He looked at her quissically, and she blushed.

"I – horse, afraid of – of heights!" Lilium panted, sweating. Watching her was like watching a kitten wriggling in the hands of a human when it didn't want to be held. D dropped his reigns and shifted one arm around her, turning with her. They both landed on the road, Lilium's feet touching down a fraction after D's.

Lilium was shaking when Nida came over. Lilium's eyes roamed the road where they had stopped, and froze on the carcass of Borgov. She turned gray and suddenly threw herself away from D.

She ran to the edge of the trees and, holding her hair back, retched into the bushes.

Grimacing at the stench of vomit, Mashira wrinkled his nose. "I take it the sight of this death pushed her over the edge then." He turned to D. "Did you bring her here so you could kill all of us at once?" he snarled.

"He hasn't decided..." Lilium's voice was weak and she giggled drunkenly. She stayed by the edge of the forest, her hand over her mouth and back to Borgov's corpse. "What did he do, Nida?"

Wet eyes met Nida's calm golden orbs.

"They're gonna kill Charlotte, and he killed a perfectly good horse."

"What?" Lilium spun around, shock widening her eyes. Mashira moved swiftly next to her, steadying her with an arm around her waist. He handed her a small flask of water, and she distracted herself by rinsing her mouth out.

"They plan on murdering both her, and my Master," Mashira muttered. "We need to get to the castle as quickly as possible. This detour may have already given the rest of the Brothers Markus the time they need."

Mashira looked to D then, studying him.

"Well. I don't think it's going to benefit anyone for us to fight here and now. If you make a move toward Lilium or the Master, I will try and strike you down. For now... I feel it is best that we meet up with the Master. Charlotte is everyone's main concern at this point – you for your money, us for protecting her."

"Agreed."

The single word surprised everyone. D agreeing? That was... unusual.

"I can run the length there. Nida and Lilium, please ride together behind D – if he allows." Mashira threw a look at the Hunter. "I will follow behind to make sure nothing is coming up behind us." Mashira's body shifted as he spoke. He took a form similar to a traditional wolf-man, with a second wolf's head snarling in his middle. Lilium reluctantly let Nida help her atop Nida's horse.

D did not argue with them. As soon as the two girls were ready, he took off like a shot toward the fortress. Dusk began to creep around them as they traveled, and they pushed forward as fast as they dared, pausing rarely to let the horses – and the height-shaken Lilium – rest briefly.

None could shake the horrid feeling growing in their guts.

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The urgency they felt kept the travelers silent as they neared the fortress. Nida noticed Lilium begin to shake as they drew up to the edge of the dried out moat that had once surrounded the massive, gray building. It looked like central courtyard that had been expanded and enlarged to thirty times the normal size, with high outer walls.

"Something feels wrong," Lilium mumbled quietly. Nida frowned and turned toward D, who was sitting three feet to her right, staring silently at the building.

"Are we on the wrong side? I don't see a bridge," Nida commented, turning her attention back to the dark, silent fortress.

"I smell my Master," came Mashira's gravelly wolf voice. Lilium jumped and looked down to the right, where Mashira had drawn up next to Nida's horse. She had no idea why the animal hadn't shied the minute the wolf-man had come near it.

"Other side then?" At Mashira's nod, Nida guided her horse to follow him. D drew up behind, still silent.

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What waited for them was a sight that would burn itself into their memories for the rest of their days.

Night had fully fallen. Lights atop the battlements of the fortress burned brightly in the sky. As they had followed the moat, perimeter lights had flickered to life, practically guiding them. A very dim glow could be seen from the pendant around D's neck.

The other side of the fortress looked much like the main side, with the addition of a long bridge made of steel and other, less easily identified metals stretching across to the gaping maw that was the doorway to the inner courtyard of the fortress.

Atop the high battlements, over the several-story-high doors, was a figure lit by harsh spotlights. It was naked save for shreds of what had once been a beautiful yellow dress, tattered bits brushing against skin that was pale and creamy save for the cuts and bruises visible on her body.

The four drew up slowly. Mashira was literally frothing with rage – saliva dripped from both his main and secondary mouths (which was rather icky, but no one really noticed). Standing at the edge of the bridge was a shape Lilium and Mashira knew well, and it was nearly howling in agony.

"CHAAAARLOOOOOOOOOOTE! NOOO! WHAT HAVE THEY **DONE!**"

Meier was radiating a miasma to battle even with the freakish aura D himself could emit. The horses shied and whinnied, and D and Nida had to calm them before they threw their riders.

"Oh god – Charlotte?" Lilium whispered, horrified. She rode behind Nida, arms clutching the older woman's torso in a vice grip. She gazed up at the still figure, fear and agony twisting in her gut.

"Mei...er..."

It was a murmur barely heard over the rattling breeze that flowed around them and Meier's anguished cries. Silence fell.

"That's right, bitches, she's still alive!"

One of the spotlights swiveled to reveal the face of Kyle Markus. A maniacal grin split his long face, cast in harsh shadow from the light. He held his throwing knives in his hands, but otherwise his pose was relaxed. His shirt was missing.

"I gotta tell you, this has been one of the funnest missions I've ever been on! Never had such a sweet piece of _ass_ before!" Kyle cackled as he walked above where Charlotte hung from the battlement and reached down, roughly grabbing her breast. The woman screamed, tears catching the light as they fell.

"**MONSTER**!" both Lilium and Meier cried in unison. Lilium dropped awkwardly from the horse and stumbled toward the bridge. She seemed in pain, holding one hand to her heart and the other lightly to her temple.

Meier himself was pacing back and forth at the edge of the bridge. Lilium couldn't see why the Noble lord couldn't simply walk across.

"I will cut out your heart and feed it to _hell hounds!_" Meier Link raged, his fangs fully bared, eyes glowing a hot, angry red. "I will not touch your disgusting, filthy blood, but throw your body into the nearest pit of Mints!"

Briefly startled out of her agony, Lilium threw him a questioning look. Mints? Were mints fatal in this world? She was glad no one had offered her any.

"Yeah, you rage on you blood-sucking parasite! Because you know what?" Kyle yanked back on a handful of Charlotte's hair and held a knife to her throat, balancing on his stomach as he leaned over the apparently rather thick battlement wall. "I can kill her _long before_ you make it past the motion sensors. Best part? _They're set to trigger arrows to fire right into her face._ In her FACE! The only place I DIDN'T bruise! Hahahahahahahaha!"

Meier froze in place, still as death. Lilium placed a hand on his arm, trying to will him calm. He was insane. Kyle Markus was insane. "Here, let's have the lovely lady talk to all of you nice people!"

He forced Charlotte's gaze down upon Meier and Lilium, where the two stood motionless, staring up in horror.

"M-mei-err," Charlotte whimpered. "I.. please, don't... risk yourself... I love you. Please just... go... Leave before they kill.. you.. Ah~!" Kyle jerked her head back to stop her from talking any further.

"Hey, Alex – you little fuck – you seen my brother Borgov around?" Kyle called to Alex/Nida in a most amiable voice. "That looks like one of his cigars in your mouth, you little thief."

"Yeah. I took it when I killed him."

Yet again a silence descended on everyone. Kyle's face went from psychotic to disbelieving, then slowly twisted into anger. His hand was still curled in Charlotte's hair.

"YOU DID WHAT YOU LITTLE FUCK? YOU LITTLE BASTARD? Where the fuck is he? **Where is my brother**? Where-" _Snap_.

Seemly just as surprised as everyone else, Kyle looked down. His hand, caught in Charlotte's hair, had been jerking around as he moved. He had slid backwards to stand up, and her hair had gone with him. Her head now hung at an odd angle, and she gurgled once before life left her eyes.

"Well, shit."

"**_CHARLOTTE_**_**!**_"

» » » » » » » » » » » » Ω « « « « « « « « « « « «

Lilium was thrown back as Meier leapt onto the bridge, unheeding now of the threatened weaponry. The arrows Kyle threatened never showed, but flood lamps with cross-shaped metal plates placed over the massive bulbs burst into being. Sizzling and screaming in agony, Meier Link jumped back, landing near the fallen Lilium, whom Nida was helping to her feet.

His cloak was burning, and Mashira – now more man than wolf – used his vest to pat out the flames, desperate to save the situation _some_how. His master was still alived – that mattered.

"Master, where is Caroline?"

No response, Meier was baring his teeth at the ground, evidently trying to control himself. Tears of blood tracked down his death-white visage.

"Master... let us retreat to the carriage for now, please, Master. We will discuss how to dispose of them from there. We need to ... retrieve her." Mashira looked up in sadness at the remains of Charlotte, so suddenly dead, hanging lifeless from the battlement.

Lilium appeared in as much shock as Meier, and Nida and Mashira lead the two back to the edge of the forest, back on a trail that lead to the carriage. D stayed behind, examining the fortress.

Kyle had disappeared inside, evidently acutely aware that his human shield was now useless.

» » » » » » » » » » » » Ω « « « « « « « « « « « «

Meier was a pool of darkness from his cloak, kneeling next to the carriage, feeling his grief over Charlotte. He had finally managed to tell Mashira that Caroline was somewhere inside the castle, trying to disable the defenses. He hadn't heard from her in a while, so when he had gone to check on the fortress at dusk, he had found Charlotte there, hanging from cables from the wall of the fortress.

That was only moments before the others had arrived, brining nightfall with them.

Lilium sat on the step of the carriage, staring dumbly at the dark woods around them. She was in shock, having seen the death of the woman Meier had been trying to go to. She could feel it now, all the pain and suffering from Meier. Her own pain. Mashira's sadness. Nida's anger.

It all seemed to weigh on her at once. She began to breathe too quickly, panic swelling up inside of her. She stood and began walking back toward the fortress, somehow determined to _do _something, when D stood suddenly before her.

"There is nothing you can do on your own. Just stay here."

Lilium's hollow eyes searched his face until she found his own, under that dark traveler's hat. Suddenly, something inside her snapped, broke under the weight of the emotions she felt.

She plunged down into his mind, into his memories. The dark-haired woman, asking him to understand how she loved his father – the pretty dark-haired woman with the whips, offering herself to him, being rejected – some crazy dark-skinned woman dressed like a hooker stabbing him with a stake – and finally, Him. A dark figure, similar to D in features, laughing, laughing.

There was a singing of metal, and the sound of it piercing cloth and flesh. Lilium came back to herself and looked down to see Meier Link kneeling before her, D's blade in his heart. Mashira was at his side, horrified. Nida was running toward them from where she had tied her horse near the carriage, shouting.

She looked up and saw surprise and a brief flash of something else – shame? - in D's features before they became stone again.

Finally understanding what had just happened, Lilium helped Mashira ease Meier Link off of the blade.

"Meier! No, Meier – please be okay, please tell me he missed your heart!"

"Ah... No, my dear.. my heart... has been pierced." Blood gushed past his lips. "Mashi..ra."

"Yes, my Master."

"Please.. if our contract can be still fulfilled in this way... guard Lilium as long as she is in your care. Take her... to safety."

"Yes, my Master. Our contract will allow this."

"Charlotte..." Lilium froze as Meier's hand found her face. His eyes were unfocused. Her tears landed on his cheek as she leaned over him. "Charlotte... I am ... so sorry for failing you. My beautiful... love. I wanted... to give this to you." His hand, moving painfully slowly, slipped into a pocket of his doublet, then came out with the string of pearls and crystals. He offered it to Lilium. "Please, take this my love. I wanted you to... have it..."

Hesitating, Lilium took the string of pearls.

"Meier.. I..." Lilium closed her eyes, braced herself. She then smiled. With all her heart she smiled. "Thank you my love," she whispered. She leaned down and kissed Meier tentatively on the lips, softly. "Don't be sorry. I love you and that is all that matters. We can..." She paused to sob. "... be together now."

Meier smiled, and then died. Lilium knelt there with him for several moments before finally standing awkwardly. There was now fresh blood staining her white dress.

Before anyone could speak, a sultry voice flowed down to them from the trees above.

"It's a pity. The Barbarois usually don't fail in their duty, but there were extenuating circumstances this time."

Mashira looked up, directly to the source of the voice. Caroline dropped down to the ground between Lilium and the carriage.

"Since he's dead, our contract is over now. We can go home, Mashira."

"I agreed to guard Lilium."

"Do as you please, but I'd like to take a bit of revenge for Benge. And this annoying little girl is part of why he's dead." Caroline lurched toward Lilium, but Mashira blocked her path.

"I am taking my duty responsibly."

"Idiot! We are _Barbarois_! We only serve the people of the night!" Caroline leaped over him, landing near Meier Link's corpse. She threw it one disgusted look before again reaching for Lilium. The human girl backed away and dove into the carriage.

"Not so fast, honey." Caroline leaped and landed atop the carriage, causing it to rock. Her body began to meld with the material, and as she sank inside, spikes began to grow and jut. Lilium screamed, finding her way out cut off by the spikes.

"Caroline...," Mashira snarled. He bunched his limbs, then leaped atop the carriage, grabbing hold of Caroline's head and yanking it off her body. It had become soft and pliable, so separating that part from the rest was easy.

Caroline screamed, her head solidifying into whatever the carriage was made from. Mashira looked at D.

"She is not dead. Will you please cut her head open?" He tossed the head in D's direction. With a flick, Caroline's head was bisected.

"What the hell?" Nida exclaimed. "In the last fifteen minutes three people just died. What is this, the Day of Death or something?"

Lilium was crying softly in the carriage. Caroline's body, lacking her will, became loose molicules and dripped into pools of liquidy metal under the carriage. The spikes melted away. Mashira climbed into the carriage and took Lilium into his arms, carring her back out. Lilium's arms twined around Mashra's neck, and she cried into his shoulder.

"This is my fault," Lilium wailed. "She was right. I am so sorry – I should have let Meier make you take me back to Gaelin!"

"Meier chose to die."

Lilium lifted her head from Mashira's shoulder to look over at D, who was re-sheathing his sword.

"I lost control and attacked you again. Meier deliberately blocked the blow with his heart. He could have defended you in any number of other ways, but chose instead to impale himself. My reaction time was slower than normal. It would have been easy for him to prevent his own death, and yours."

D turned and walked over to his horse, and began unpacking the tools he would need to go in after Kyle and Nolt, and retrieve something of Charlotte's to bring to her father and brother to prove her death.

Lilium let Mashira set her down, and wandered over to Meier's body. She knelt and closed his eyes, placing his hands over his chest. She looked up at Nida, a firm resolve in her dark eyes.

"I want to help kill them. I want to help kill what's left of the Brothers Markus."

Author's Note: Wooooooo second to last chapter. I hope this was okay. Very violent. And poor Charlotte. :(


	11. End of the Nightmare

"I want to help kill them. I want to help kill what's left of the Brothers Markus."

Nida examined Lilium for a moment.

"I don't want you getting hurt, or, knowing you, balking at a pivotal moment and getting yourself killed when you had a chance to fight back," she finally stated. "You're not a fighter. Arguer sure, but not a fighter."

Lilium looked down at Meier's body, then back to Nida.

"I know that. But I want to help in any way I can. Even if it's just lookout."

"Okay. Mashira – you're serious about protecting Lilium. You willing to come with us to get some hot revenge action?" Nida turned to the last standing Barbarois, hands on her hips. He nodded. "Awesome sauce. You're with Lilium then."

"Understood."

Nida opened her mouth to say more then stopped. A loud rumbling could be heard from the nearby road. It sounded like Leila's motorbike.

Mashira was instantly at out of the woods, then back a few seconds later.

"It isn't the Leila woman. It is your redheaded friend."

"Kaiou!"

**Unsettling Futures**

**By Jamie Carlson (a.k.a. Cardinal Syn)****  
Chapter Eleven: **  
"End of the Nightmare"

At the Markus Brothers' tank, Kaiou was busy stealing bits of red leathers and clothing from the dead Leila – and, of course, her gun – while Tsukai sat, curled in a ball, in the shade outside of the tank, crying,

Kaiou was more angry than sad over what had happened. This was why you don't trust weird strangers you meet in random-ass places. Though this also proved to her for certain that it wasn't a dream – the pain was too real, and normally when a dream gets that weird, either you wake up or it gets even weirder. Instead they just died. If they had suddenly burst into song or turned into zombies, that would have been different.

Finally out of the weird bar wench outfit she'd somehow ended up in and in some nice red leathers, Kaiou hooked Leila's gunbelt around her hips. She stepped out of the tank, careful not to slip on any of Leila's blood, and looked down at Tsukai.

"Come on, we need to leave before the boys get back. We can steal her ride."

Tsukai just hugged his knees to his chest and stared down at the sand.

She stared at him for a few minutes before sighing and turning away, moving to fetch the motorbike.

She knew Tsukai well enough to know getting him to leave wasn't going to happen. She needed to find the others – maybe Nida could kick him into complying or Lilium could coddle him until he got so angry and annoyed he'd move. She wasn't sure if he'd be safe, but decided she didn't have much choice at this point.

She came back to where the boy sat with a blanket and dropped it around him.

"It's going to get cold since we're in a desert."

She dropped a small pistol she found next to him.

"Use that on anything that comes near you, not on yourself."

With that, she mounted Leila's motorcycle, and aimed it in the direction she had seen the Markus brothers take.

To her fortune, the cycle had GPS locator for each brother. Curiously, it was missing Borgov's signal. Nolt and Kyle were in one place – she figured that would be the best place to aim herself toward, since ultimately everyone would end up in the same place at the same time.

Right?

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"Kaiou!"

Nida brushed past Mashira and out onto the road, where she flagged her swiftly moving friend over to their location. To her surprise, Kaiou appeared to be wearing a new tanktop, red leather jacket, and red leather leggings and boots, and had what looked like a giant gun at her hip.

"Heyo," Nida greeted cheerfully as Kaiou cut the engine. "Did they let you borrow those?"

"Nah, took 'em after we had to kill Leila."

"Wait, what?"

Kaiou explained what had happened as the others emerged from the forest, D trailing at the last. Lilium's expression, already grim, became uneasy when Kaiou admitted to leaving Tsukai behind.

"He has a weapon. He just refuses to move. I think something happened when Grove possessed him. Tsukai's having the worst Tsukai's Famous Breakdown I've ever seen."

"We need to go back for him, but..." Lilium looked up at the fortress. "We need to avenge Charlotte and Meier Link first."

"Avenge? Wait, what exactly happened here?"

They told Kaiou the story of the events that had transpired while Nida ransacked the bike for any additional weapons they could take. There was a rocket launcher with one small guided rocket, a couple of small laser guns – according to Mashira – and some knives. She handed a hefty dagger to Lilium, who held it like a precious object.

"Go figure the emaciated one is the only one who isn't a crazy fuck so far," Kaiou muttered, taking a swig from the water bottle she'd brought with her.

"Okay, I was handing out my plan a minute ago, but I can change it up a little now that you're here. Mashira is paired with Lilium, Kaiou and I can pair up as well. D can do whatever the hell he wants because he's D."

The now-familiar growly snicker that erupted from D's left hand was cut off when he curled his fingers around it.

"Everyone has a weapon or two now, except Mashira who is his own weapon. So. Let's go in. The bridge is down and the doors are open!"

"What about the defenses?" Lilium murmured, carefully belting the holster and knife sheath she was handed around her waist.

"Any Noble-built defenses – which there would mostly be since the humans would have stolen the Nobility's technology to use against them – are inactive." D's voice calmly stated.

"But, the lamps -"

"Those won't harm humans."

"Oh, that's true." Lilium blushed as she went to brush pretend dirt off of her dress, then stopped when she realized it was still soaked in blood. She gulped hard, then turned her attention to the fortress before them, still lit by spotlights and floodlamps in various odd angles. It looked even more imposing now that the sun had set completely, the external lighting joined by harsh lighting from within the building.

D was the first to begin moving. The others followed him, some with reluctance, some with a deadly purpose to their steps.

When they reached the bridge, D turned sharply on his heel and walked instead to the edge of the deep, dry moat. Lilium called after him.

"The bridge is right here."

She missed the amused looks exchanged by Nida and Kaiou as D resolutely ignored Lilium and began to climb down the rough wall of the once-moat.

"He's probably going to find a way in at the bottom," Nida pointed out. "He has trouble with bridges." She chuckled as she stepped onto the bridge, leading the charge across and inside.

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Unfortunately for the companions outside, Nolt and Kyle were well aware that they would come across the bridge. Though the Noble's defenses had been disabled, the brothers had set up their own inside.

"Where do you think the Vampire Hunter is?" Nolt rumbled, watching the small portable monitor Kyle had set up on a dusty table in the large stone-walled room they had set up camp in. It had only two entrances if you didn't count the roof/battlement access. The steel door on the far side of the room was rusted, the room behind it partially collapsed from some distant battle. They had simply barricaded it for added reinforcement so the only remaining access was the door to Kyle and Nolt's right, which lead to a corridor with additional rooms and the stairs that lead to the next floor down, and stairs to the roof access. A spiral staircase sat in the middle of the room, leading up to a small landing and the door. They had locked the door that lead outside, but the likelihood anyone would try to enter the fortress from the roof was slim.

So that left Kyle and Nolt only to watch the main door. And with their small portable cameras set up at intervals throughout the many floors of the building, they would not be hit by a surprise attack.

Kyle used a dial on the monitor to flip through each camera's signal. The kids and the hairy Barbarois were visible on Camera 3, crossing the bridge. They would be inside the fortress proper in moments. D was found on Camera 1. He had entered through the dungeon. Kyle had not had a view of the hunter for more than a few seconds before they saw D's hand flick, and the camera stopped functioning. Nolt whistled low. D had been 100 feet from the camera, and had tossed something straight through the lens with barely a gesture.

"We don't need to worry about him," Kyle smirked. "The defenses on the two underground floors are still active, and they're probably full of mutant critters. And as for these guys…." The dial on the monitor clicked as Kyle quickly shifted it back to Camera, then to Camera 4 when he saw the kids were inside. This camera showed him the large doors and the first ten feet of the entryway, enough to see the group slip in. He howled with laughter as the anti-human defenses armed and began firing. An arrow shot from a ceiling-mounted drone grazed the arm of the girl wearing Leila's leathers. She cursed and pulled Leila's gun from her holster, but almost dropped the weight of it.

"Why do you think that one has Leila's stuff?" Kyle asked, suddenly serious and icy. Nolt watched the screen as the group dashed forward. Kyle twisted the dial to Camera 5, angled to show the entry to the fortress – a large foyer devoid of decoration – from the perspective of someone who had just entered the building. The brothers hadn't been able to power up the turrets mounted on the walls, so had set up their own simpler versions on either side of the door that lead to the next room, and one on each side of the 40-foot space, tucked away near the actual turrets.

The group saw the turrets and took position behind each of the massive inactive machines, black domes which had turned gray with dust and age. They were out of sight of the arrow-firing drones now, but couldn't move back into the path to the door without being shot at. They were now hidden from Kyle and Nolt's view.

"If that Alex kid managed to kill Borgov…" Nolt's voice trailed off. Something had happened. The boy those kids had with them – Tsukai – wasn't there. Had Leila done something to the boy, and Kaiou had responded by killing Leila? He worried. There was also no sign of Grove's ghostly presence. Had something happened to both of them? Were he and Kyle – unstable, vicious Kyle – all that was left of the clan?

» » » » » » » » » » » » Ω « « « « « « « « « « « «

Kaiou was growling and cursing, hefting the pressure-gun she'd stolen from Leila over and over to try to get used to the weight and awkwardness of it. How the hell had Leila handled it one-handed? The leather from the red jacket had deflected the arrow nicely, but was now scuffed.

Mashira had managed to pull Lilium out of the path of the arrows that had locked onto her, and Nida had been the first out of the way of the things. No one was hurt – yet.

"I thought the defenses were down!" Kaiou snapped, glaring at Nida as if she had something to do with the onslaught of arrows.

"Those assholes probably set these up," Nida replied with a calm cheerfulness that implied she did this sort of thing every day. "We had been walking toward them for a good twenty seconds before the first arrows were shot – if we run, we can probably make it through the archway before they fire again. At least there isn't a locked door at the end of the hallway. That would suck."

"We don't know what they have set up on the other side," Lilium pointed out. She had her back against the cylinder that made what appeared to her to be simply black domes. They had slits that bisected the otherwise smooth domes, with an old, rusted tube pointing out, each at different angles. Guns, perhaps. She looked to her right, to where Nida and Kaiou hid behind the other massive structure. They were four feet wide easily, so they awarded cover to two persons to a cylinder, but they were only four feet high. They all had to sit or kneel to keep their heads from being exposed. Mashira, who knelt to Lilium's left after he had pulled her against the ancient turret, placed his hand on her shoulder.

"I will go first. Lilium, if you hear anything or see anything that leads you to believe something has happened to me, leave. Give up on this." Her head whipped around and he could tell by the widening of her eyes and the breath she took that she would protest. He held his hand up, palm facing her, pausing her. "If you were to die here, it would be against my former Master's wishes. _I_ do not wish to see you or your companions die here."

Not waiting for a response, Mashira stood, his head and shoulders lowered to still be hidden behind the turret. He readied himself, then leapt into the pathway to the next room and bolted. He was incredibly fast, and closed the distance between the turrets and the archway to the next room in mere seconds. The arrow-firing drones hadn't even noticed him move.

Lilium and her friends waited breathlessly, listening. Finally, they heard Mashira's gravelly voice.

"Clear. Run to me, one at a time."

After a few moments of confusion while the three women debated on who to send next, Nida ordered Kaiou to go first, Lilium next, and Nida herself would bring up the rear. Each took the short journey – it was really only seven or so yards, but seemed so much farther – without injury. Once they were past the archway they were out of the sights of the drones.

» » » » » » » » » » » » Ω « « « « « « « « « « « «

Tsukai sat listlessly in the darkness, having remained next to the Markus Brothers' tank. The moon was brilliant and offered much light, and the tank's emergency lights had come on at some point. He shivered in the chill desert air, but had not moved since Kaiou left. He made no move to gather the folds of the blanket around himself. It lay just as it had when Kaiou had dropped it over his shoulders.

He didn't hear the distant sound of a motor, even as it drew closer and finally stopped alongside the tank. The bright headlights of the vehicle focused on him and threw him into stark relief. He didn't respond to the footsteps of the man who approached him from his side, and didn't really react when the man knelt in front of him.

"Hey, you alright?" the man asked, reaching out to put a hand on Tsukai's shoulder. The man was a little older than Tsukai, with brown hair pulled back into a ponytail and a carefully crafted goatee. His dark brown eyes narrowed, brow furrowing as he examined Tsukai's blank face. The bloodstains on Tsukai's velvety clothing caused the man's eyebrows to arch.

The man stood and looked cautiously inside the tank. His eyes widened at the sight. He backed out quickly, a hand over his mouth. The stench of viscera and emptied bowels was unbearable. He looked down at Tsukai, then knelt, placing both hands on the boy's shoulders and shaking him.

"Hey, snap out of it. I need you to tell me what happened here so I know if I need to help you, or get the fuck out of here!" The man's words were slow and deliberate as he tried to reach Tsukai. The boy blinked a few times, and seemed to rouse himself a little.

"They – uh. She. She was raping him and… She was attacking Kaiou. She shot him, and he flew into me, and Grove he… used my body to make her stop, with the light. And he's gone. He just… he's gone…" Tsukai's voice trailed off as he began staring at nothingness again, tears in his eyes. The man stared at him, bewildered.

"Stay with me, kid, I need to know what happened. By "She" do you mean the naked and very dead blonde?"

"Leila."

"OK, Leila then. Leila was hurting Grove, I'm guessing that dead gentleman in there, and someone named Kaiou. Are you Kaiou?"

For a brief moment, Tsukai looked irritated and tilted his head with an expression that seemed to say "Do I LOOK like Kaiou?". This seemed to pull him out of his dark reverie enough to begin to interact. He shook the man's hands off and stood, wincing as his muscles had gone stiff from sitting still for so long.

"No, I'm _Tsu_kai. Kai_ou_ left on Leila's bike."

"Okay. Tuskai, I'm Gelalshawr. You can call me Gela if you prefer. I've got a dune buggy over here I managed to barter off of an old guy who lives near the desert. If you know where your friend went, we can try to follow her." Gela beckoned at Tsukai to follow him and turned toward the buggy.

"Why?"

"Why what?" Gela was already climbing into the buggy – it looked like the bastard child of a U.S. military jeep (without the colors or markings of one) and a golf cart. Not much like a dune buggy. Gela adjusted his black duster as he sat down, brushing dust off of the leg of his jeans.

"Why are you helping me?" Tsukai asked. "Why go find Kaiou?"

"Because, frankly, I'm tired of this shithole place," Gela replied, spreading his arms out as if to indicate everything, everywhere. "Ever since I woke up – you know what, never mind." He rubbed his left arm absently. "At least I have cool stuff for my troubles, but seriously."

Tsukai had perked up at the "ever since I woke up" and trotted over to the passenger side of the buggy. Gela nodded his head toward the back seats, where a large duffel bag was firmly wedged into the floorspace. "If you want to change, there should be some pants and a shirt in there that were too small for me – they may fit you. You've got blood on you and are dressed ridiculously."

"Thanks for that," Tsukai replied drily. He was able to think again, at least for now. Distraction was good. Don't think about Grove. Don't think about the tank at all. He rummaged in the duffel bag until he found what he was looking for. He wandered to the other side of the tank to change, out of Gela's view. He was quick to change, as it was getting bitingly cold and odd sounds – some sort of beasts – could be heard in the distance.

When he reached the buggy again, he had cinched slightly too-big jeans with a belt made from a cable he stole from the motionless tank, and wore a better-fitting shirt similar in cut and style to a t-shirt with elbow-length sleeves. He had found his supply bag and fished out fresh socks. He still wore the black shoes with shiny buckles, but what could you do?

As he settled himself in the buggy, he looked at Gela again, studying him. As they began to move out across the desert, following the faint trail Kaiou had left behind – they were lucky desert wind had been calm and hadn't completely covered her tracks – Tsukai steeled himself to ask.

"You said when you woke up… did you… start out somewhere else?" Tsukai asked cautiously. The other man looked at him in surprise.

"Start out somewhere else?"

"Yeah, like… wake up somewhere… _totally_ different from where you started?"

They drove on in silence as Gelalshawr debated his answer. Finally, he nodded.

"I fell asleep in my apartment in Olympia, and woke up in someone's barn wearing different clothes than I'd had on when I went to bed." He glanced briefly at Tsukai, then back ahead to watch where he was driving. "I've been here over two months now, I think. You, uh… under similar circumstances?"

Tsukai, somehow relieved, began telling Gela his story as they travelled.

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Lilium was oddly calm as she followed Mashira through the next room of the fortress. It was strange here. The place had an aura of desolation, though you could see signs of the life Charlotte had brought to it – a chair here dusted off, a book laying open nearby where it may have been dropped when Kyle and Nolt seized her. At the back of her mind, in the recesses of her heart, she felt the echoes of a longing. Was it Charlotte's?

There were no signs of any further weaponry. Kyle and Nolt must not have had enough time to set up many defenses – especially if they had taken the time to savage poor Charlotte in the time it took everyone else to arrive.

They moved up to the second floor, and then the third, without incident. They had passed a kitchen and mess hall area, a training room with moldering mats and broken practice equipment, and what appeared to be the barracks.

When they reached the fourth floor, they entered what appeared to be the tactical room of the fortress. A large table filled the middle of the room. Dead computer banks lined the walls, and torn, faded maps adorned the table and what walls were not occupied by equipment.

As they made their way around the table, heading toward a door marked with a drawing of stairs and the number five, the relative silence of the room was broken with a click. Lilium froze, her body stiffening. She had felt a plate shift under her foot. Unsure what to do, she remained still, afraid.

Mashira spun toward her, was telling her to get down – bright light and sound. She was on the floor, her ears ringing, blinking rapidly. She couldn't see beyond the black spots on her vision. There had been no heat, she realized, but the concussion had knocked her down. Some sort of powerful flash-bang must have gone off.

Sound was muffled and the ringing was the loudest thing in her head. She didn't hear the screams of anger and frustration from her friends, didn't hear the metal catch release on the net that fell over her as she struggled to push herself to her feet. Confused, she tried to push it away, wrapping her fingers around the threadlike wire mesh that formed the net. She felt the current start and couldn't get free in time. Electricity pulsed through her, just enough to stun. She landed hard on her side, and noticed for the first time this room wasn't dusty. The floor had been swept clean – to hide signs of activity.

She saw Mashira go flying by her eyes, and the hulking form of Nolt walk by her. She tried to speak, tried to push herself up again. Mashira leapt at him, and Nolt's hammer swatted the Barbarois away. Mashira hit the floor and stopped moving. Lilium tried to crawl to him but her limbs and even her dress were tangling up in the damn netting. A silver arrow pierced Nolt's arm, and his mouth opened in a howl. He turned toward the source, swinging his hammer.

A hole was blasted in the wall near Nolt, then the ridiculously large gun Kaiou had stolen skittered against the wall, apparently wrenched out of the hands of its wielder. Lilium could only see vague movement behind the table legs from her position on the floor.

Dazed, she convulsed when another shock of electricity was sent through the netting. Again, it was enough to keep her from moving but not to knock her out. The metal seemed to slither around her, pinning her arms down, one down the side of her body, the other to her chest.

She had barely begun to gain control of her muscles again when she was hauled upright by the front of her dress. She could barely focus on Kyle Markus' leering face. He pressed a cloth against her mouth and nose and she panicked, tried to push his hand away but her arms were trapped. She tried not to breathe in the vapors from the damp cloth, but her lungs were burning and she needed air.

As she began to lose consciousness and Kyle pulled her upward to throw her over his shoulder, she was vaguely aware of Nolt dragging a badly bruised and unconscious Nida and a shrieking Kaiou away by their ankles.

» » » » » » » » » » » » Ω « « « « « « « « « « « «

Nida was conscious when Nolt shut the door to the small office that was now their prison. She shushed Kaiou when the redhead opened her mouth to say something. Nolt's rumbly voice could easily be heard on the other side of the door. Kaiou and Nida were the only ones in the room. Mashira may be dead, and Lilium was still out there with Kyle, that crazy fuck.

Nolt was talking about "the freak in the other room" – Mashira? Kyle muttered something Nida couldn't hear, then Nolt's response. The conversation was one-sided, but Nida made out that they weren't sure if Mashira was dead or not, and Nolt was going to check. Perfect.

Now they were talking about Lilium. "The Girl", Nolt called her. Nida felt cold when she heard Kyle laughing again. That stupid fuck needed to be shanked. Nolt said something about "treating her like Charlotte". His voice had a low, disapproving ring. Kyle raised his voice now, and Nida could clearly hear him tell Nolt he'd just better check on the damn freak and let Kyle get busy. If Leila was dead he wasn't getting any for a while after this, unless he wanted to pay for it, and besides, that "punk" who "offed Borgov" wouldn't work because he didn't do guys.

Nolt's response was so quiet, Nida couldn't make out the words. She heard the two men walking away, in separate directions. One to the left, the other to the right. The timbre of the steps told her Nolt had gone right – back toward the tactics room then. Kyle was probably taking Lilium elsewhere.

Nida sat up as quickly as she could with what felt like bruised ribs and a broken finger in her left hand. She butt-scooted over to Kaiou, who had her hands tied behind her back. They hadn't bothered to tie Nida up, to her satisfaction. They thought she was out cold the whole time.

As Nida untied Nolt's sloppy knotwork, she kept her mouth close to Kaiou's ear and whispered.

"Did you get the gist of that?" Kaiou nodded in response. "Okay. They took the crossbow off my wrist and found all of my knives and my gun, but I have an extra bolt strapped to my calf. I can stab someone with that at least. Do you have anything left they didn't take?" Kaiou shook her head. "Then stay here. I'm going to see if I can help Lilium."

"You're hurt," Kaiou snapped back, glaring at Nida in the darkened room. Her friend's eyes glowed like a cat's catching the dim light from the gaps between the top and bottom of the door and the frame. This alarmed her, but she shook it off. Lots of weird things had happened here. "Give me the bolt and I'll go."

"No. You stay here, find a weapon, and wait a few minutes. Jump Nolt if he comes back – take him by surprise – and then run. Get out if you can."

"Where do you think D is?"

"Don't care."

Nida tiptoed to the door. She slowly pressed down on the handle, and found it unlocked. She swung it slowly, frowning when the hinges creaked. She eased out into the hallway and shut the door behind her.

Nida immediately went left, padding silently down the corridor. She eventually reached the stairs. The placard by the doorway to the stairwell indicated they were on the fifth floor, and the next was the sixth, and after that the roof and battlements. She was just about to mount the stairs when she heard a hydraulic hiss and froze. There was nothing to hide behind. She knelt, shifted her pant leg up, tugged the bolt out of her sock, then stood, facing the source of the hiss.

A panel had slid open in one of the walls. Out of the secret elevator walked D.

Nida gaped.

"There's an elevator?! Why the hell were we using the stairs then?!" she asked aloud. D frowned and took in the bruises that had blossomed on her left cheek.

"I take it you fought with the two remaining Markuses."

"They had traps set up in a room on the next floor. A flash-bang went off to disorient us, then I into a fist-fight with Nolt when he popped in out of nowhere. Lil got snagged under a crazy electrified net, Nolt hit me hard enough to keep me down, and Kaiou got jumped by Kyle and held at knife point until Nolt was finished beating the shit out of me and Mashira. Kyle's got Lil now. He took her this way."

"Where are the rest?"

"Kaiou is staying in the room Nolt had dropped us in – they tied her up but thought I was unconscious, I guess. I overheard Nolt say he was going to go see if Mashira was really dead. If he's not, he's probably going to kill him."

D looked at the arch leading to the stairwell, then back to the elevator. He reached his right hand out of his cloak and offered Nida a knife with a fine blade and a fancy handle.

"Go keep your friend Kaiou safe. I will stop Kyle."

Nida looked at the knife, then at D.

"Why should I let you go yourself? Didn't she say you haven't decided yet if you're going to kill her or not?"

D was silent for a moment, then replied softly: "Go protect your red-headed friend. I will deal with Kyle Markus."

That unnatural miasma poured out of him. Nida considered for a moment longer, then decided. She took the knife, and looked at the elevator, which still stood open.

"Does that go to the fourth floor?"

"It goes from this floor to the basement. If you take Kaiou you can leave through there. Everything in the basement is dead now."

As Nida retreated to collect Kaiou, she chuckled to herself. "Dead now," she mused to herself. "If they got in his way, I'm sure they are."

» » » » » » » » » » » » Ω « « « « « « « « « « « «

Lilium gasped and sputtered as cold liquid coursed over her face. She sat up, waving her arms in a sad attempt to fend off another splash. Kyle's cruel laughter echoed through the room.

Eyes wide and frightened, Lilium frantically twisted around. Kyle was standing behind her, still shirtless, a metal cup held loosely in one hand. The room they were in was somewhat large, with no windows. A rickety table stood in the center, what appeared to be a small television monitor sitting on the edge. Behind Kyle was a door barricaded with what appeared to be various metal crates and abandoned shelving units.

She was seated on the floor, no longer wrapped in the netting. Her head was spinning and she felt sick. She could still smell the chemical he had used to knock her out – chloroform perhaps. With painful slowness she shifted to her hands and knees, letting her hair fall over her face. She looked to her left and saw another door. To her right was a metal spiral staircase leading upward.

Which way? The door to her left was shut, possibly locked. She didn't know where the staircase lead. Her mind whirled from the attempt to think as it was still numb from the effects of the chemical.

He was walking toward her now, and before she could react – her body felt so slow! – he had moved to her side and planted his foot against her ribs. He pushed her roughly sideways, flinging her onto her side. She rolled with the movement, trying to get away from him, but the spinning made her horribly dizzy. She squeezed her eyes shut and prayed she wouldn't be sick. Her side ached. The soles of his boots felt like they had metal plates in them.

"It's pretty sad how easy it was to capture your little party, considering you little shits killed off my big brother," Kyle said happily, the pleasantness of his tone stark contrast to the words. As Lilium's dizziness was subsiding, she felt his hand entwine in her hair. She opened her eyes just as he dropped to his knees over her, sitting on her upper legs so that she couldn't kick him. His knees dug into her hips as he curved his spine to lean toward her. His other hand held one of his knives loosely, casually, as if it wasn't a deadly weapon.

With him sitting on top of her, his hand in her hair, Lilium felt it. An underlying current of what she could only describe as _desire_. Desire to harm, desire to take. Desire to do whatever he wanted. Lust in its most base form – enthusiasm, a desire to _obtain_. Lilium began to tremble. She lashed out with her right hand, slapping him. She tried to roll with the movement and shift him off of her, but she couldn't get enough momentum to rock him, and frankly, the slap was just weak. It barely moved his face.

She had thought it would anger him, but Kyle just tilted his head back and laughed, the sound high pitched and mad. He pulled her head back by her hair, and she cried out, her hands moving to the one bunched up in her tresses. She scratched at his hand, trying to dislodge him.

"You look a lot like her," Kyle observed, slowly bringing his knife down. He slid the blade under the ribbon tying the outer coat of her dress closed, the pretty blue ribbon with its teal trim, and twisted it so that the sharp blade pressed against the satin. He slid his knife upward, neatly slicing the ribbons. He cut the bow in half. "The little slut who thought sleeping with an undead _thing_ was better than sleeping with a hot-blooded human."

Lilium was crying silently now, and placed her hand on Kyle's chest, trying to push him away, then clawing at him. When he got tired of it he slapped her, then pinned her hands above her head. He had to lean over to her to do it – she tried to knee him in the groin. That earned her a cuff to the side of the head with the butt of the knife. Kyle shifted first one leg, and then the other, until he was resting between her knees. When his hips pressed against her, Lilium gagged.

She screamed and thrashed against him. She was well aware of his stupid knife and didn't care. She was going to end up like Charlotte – she would rather be dead _before_ he violated her.

Kyle spoke to her in that false pleasant voice even as he began to cut her bloodstained dress away from her body. He told her about everything he had done to Charlotte, and how he was going to enjoy having a repeat with Lilium. He hoped she was still a virgin, like Charlotte had been.

Lilium's dress lay around her in shreds as he began touching her, grabbing her. He kept her hands pinned and had to lay the knife down on occasion, but she couldn't free her hands.

He bit her shoulder and she sobbed. Anger flaring, she turned her face toward him and bit him back, right on the cheek. He howled as her teeth sank in, and he jerked away from her. He struck her harder this time, dazing her. His movements were sharp and angry as he tore her shredded skirt away from her hips.

Her throat was sore from screaming and the sounds escaping her throat were growing harsh. She was cold, the floor was hard and her limbs hurt from trying to fight him. She tried to jam the heel of her foot into his back – where were her shoes?! Every time she connected he backhanded her. He tore her undergarments, cut the bands where he wasn't able to tear the thicker cloth.

He licked her. She fought the urge to throw up, for her own dignity rather than for his sake. She was already sticky with dried blood and sweat from exertion. She didn't need to be covered in her own vomit. She was surprised enough she hadn't lost control of her bladder – or worse – when she was electrocuted.

A part of her realized she was disassociating. She was suddenly less aware of his hand on her breast. Of the feeling of him adjusting her legs. She was retreating into her mind. She was still fighting, but it was automatic. She was too tired, too dizzy to put any strength into the blows. He was covered in the scratches she had inflicted when he released her hands, but he didn't seem to notice.

She was in pain. It took very little effort to focus her mind away from the pain he was inflicting, to not accept that it was happening to her. A small part of her, the part of her that sometimes soothed her when she was anxious or upset, frantically wrapped itself around her mind and tried to contain her, save her from being aware.

Distantly, Lilium felt alarm. Distant… to her right. Funny. She could feel things in a directional sense. That was new. Her empathy had only ever forced her to feel the vague impression of strong emotion in the past, and recently, stronger emotion from those near her. The alarm she felt now seemed to shift into something darker. And it was getting closer.

Her eyes were fixed on Kyle's face, altered by his mania. A grinning mask of insanity.

In an instant, his expression changed to one of surprise. He looked away from her. She heard a sound – singing, sweet and high. Not a voice a human or animal could raise to the heavens. The song of metal.

Kyle didn't really say anything. He didn't have time.

Before Lilium's eyes, Kyle's head just sort of… flew away. Away from his body, toward the spiral stairs only a few feet away. It hit the rails of the steps with a resounding twang. Down his head fell, landing on the floor, the face turned away from her. Warm blood splattered her face and bare chest.

She expected the body to land on her, but it was hauled and tossed clear across the room.

Lilium was being helped to sit up. Her trembling hands gathered what remained of her dress to herself. The tremble became violent as she cast vacant eyes up on the face of D. His usually stoic face had softened, his brows coming together slightly and a frown pulling his sensual mouth downward. A hint of sadness, echoed in the pulsing emotions she felt from him as he encased her in his cloak.

She leaned into him and cried.

» » » » » » » » » » » » Ω « « « « « « « « « « « «

Nida opened the door and had to dodge when Kaiou tried to hit her with a broken broom handle.

"Nice try," Nida quipped. "Come on, let's go try and save Mashira's hairy butt."

"What about Lil?"

"D's got her."

Kaiou had only found a broom when searching the small dusty office (which in itself was not the easiest task in the dark). With the light of the hallway, they still couldn't find any useful weapons.

The two ran toward the elevator D had discovered. Kaiou found the control panel and punched in the button marked with "4".

When the door opened, it ironically opened to the sight of Nolt, who turned toward them in surprise. While he was distracted, a furry body tackled Nolt to the ground.

"Hey, you're not dead!" Nida cried, watching with delight as Nolt used the handle of his sledgehammer to hold the werewolf Barbarois away from him. Mashira's wolfish muzzle clamped onto the silvery metal. The wolf head in his stomach extended and snapped toward Nolt's torso, only inches from disemboweling the larger man.

"Shit," Nolt grunted. He looked up at Nida. "Look, call him off, and I'll surrender. This has gotten beyond out of hand." Nida and Kaiou exchanged looks.

"Right, not sure I believe that," Kaiou responded, crossing her arms. "Aren't you mad? We totally killed your other siblings."

Nolt's arms had begun to shake from the strain of holding Mashira away.

"Girl… Leila was almost as bad as Kyle. Borgov didn't care about anything but money, so turned a blind eye to their debauchery," Nolt responded, grunting. "Each of 'em… prolly did something to deserve getting killed. It's also part of… our job description. You die hunting monsters if you're not careful." Nolt tilted his head awkwardly to, of all things, offer Kaiou a sad smile. "But I **would** like to know what you did with Grove. He couldn't really fight back, not unless Leila gave him his shot."

Kaiou looked at the floor. Mashira was still putting pressure on Nolt, but had stopped trying to tear open the giant's stomach. He waited, yellow eyes focused on Nida. Finally, Kaiou sighed.

"Look, Leila was a sick bitch. I found her raping that poor skeletal brother of yours. I use _rape_ because she'd bound and gagged him. I guess he could have been into that, but it didn't really look like it." Kaiou shrugged. "Technically, they killed each other. She shot Grove when he tried to stop her from killing Tsukai, and then he like, _possessed_ Tooskie-kun. He shot her with balls of light and that was it."

Nolt nodded. "I see. Then I can't hold that against you."

"You believe me?" Kaiou's incredulous expression seemed to amuse Nolt, as he smiled up at her.

"Knowing Leila, yeah."

"Mashira… down, boy," Nida said lightly, snapping her fingers and pointing to the floor next to her. If the doggy treatment bothered him, the Barbarois man didn't show it. He simply let go of Nolt's hammer and pushed himself away from the human. He was limping when he shuffled over to stand next to Nida and Kaiou.

Nolt tossed his hammer away and lay on the floor for a minute, breathing heavily, arms spread out at his sides. "Did you kill Kyle, then?"

"No. D's doing that."

"Alright then."

"If you were mad at him for hurting Charlotte and Lilium, why didn't you try and stop him?" Nida watched him and waited patiently for his reply. Finally, Nolt sighed.

"Because I'm the big dumb one who just does what his brothers tell him."

As answers go, it wasn't very satisfying. It was, however, honest. Nida couldn't begrudge him that.

"Well, let's go see if D's done killing Kyle yet, and get the fuck out of here."

Kaiou and Mashira followed Nida onto the elevator. Nolt drug himself to his feet, and looked around the tactical room. He looked at them, and when he saw Nida was waiting, followed. The elevator barely fit the four of them.

They rode up to the second-to-the-top floor in silence. When they arrived, there was no sign of D. They filed up the long staircase to the final floor.

They couldn't hear anything from the room at the end of the hall. Nida and Kaiou exchanged worried looks, then took off at a brisk pace, the two men bringing up the rear. When they walked into the room, they found D walking town the spiral steps that had led to the roof. He was carrying the body of Charlotte in his arms.

Near the door lay Lilium, swathed in D's cloak, apparently sleeping. There was blood on her face and on the hand that held the black cloth under her chin. Her head was pillowed on what remained of the outer coat of her dress. Kyle's body lay on the other side of the room, his head sitting nearby.

Nolt shed his long sleeveless duster. Wordlessly, he laid it out on the floor near the stairs. D carefully laid Charlotte's broken body on the cloth, and Nolt carefully, almost reverently, began to wrap her in its folds, staring at her feet..

"I did wrong, not stopping Kyle. I'm not blameless. If you wanna take off my head, you do that," Nolt said softly, presumably to D, while he fixed the duster around Charlotte. "The Markus clan is finished now. For the better, I suppose."

"You aren't a threat to me," D replied simply. He knelt next to Charlotte and lifted her right hand. He slipped a ring off of her finger – the ring her father had described to him when he took the job to find her – and then rested her hands over her chest so Nolt could finish swaddling her body.

Storing the ring in a small belt-purse, D stood and moved over to the sleeping Lilium. Kaiou was sitting cross-legged on the floor, her leg having replaced Lilium's torn and soiled dress as the younger girl's pillow. Kaiou looked up at him. Nida took a break from kicking Kyle's corpse to look over at them.

"Is she okay?" Kaiou asked carefully.

"I made her sleep," D responded softly. "Physically, she has bruises. Nothing seems to be broken. I have a salve in my saddle bag I can give to those of you who are suffering from bruises. They will heal rapidly."

"But is she _okay_?"

"…" D knelt and carefully lifted Lilium in his arms. "I can't answer that. I will take her outside." He turned to Nolt, who had picked up Charlotte's body.

"I'll carry this one. Are you going to take her body back to her father and brother? Or did you plan on burying her?"

"I have what I need. If you wish to bury her, you can."

An uncomfortable silence had descended over the group. They marched outside, two trips on the elevator – one for D, Lilium, and Kaiou, the next for Mashira, Nida, Nolt, and the bundle in his arms. Nolt did not seem concerned with retrieving his brother's body.

As the group reached the end of the bridge and Meier's abandoned carriage, the growl of an engine could be heard in the distance. When the vehicle reached them, Kaiou and Nida were pleasantly surprised to find Tsukai.

D left Lilium's sleeping form in Meier Link's carriage. Tsukai insisted on climbing in and sitting with her when he found out what happened. Gelalshawr introduced himself and shared his story with Kaiou and Nida – how he, too, had mysteriously appeared in this strange world, almost a month ago.

Nolt and Mashira took shifts digging in the forest as D silently treated Nida, then the still-sleeping Lilium, with bruise salve. He even set Nida's broken finger and gave her a different salve that would speed up the healing of the bone. This world, this time, certainly was as wondrous as it was dangerous.

» » » » » » » » » » » » Ω « « « « « « « « « « « «

When the dawn came, Lilium Noir stood at the foot of a double-grave. A rudimentary cross had been built from wooden slats from a wagon Kyle and Nolt had used. The inscription, carefully carved into the wood by Nolt of all people, read:

Star-Crossed Lovers

C&M

Rest Well

Gela had been kind enough to loan Lilium his duster, which she buttoned up and tied closed, as she had nothing else on underneath it. A cool morning wind caused her to shiver. She had washed Kyle's blood off of herself, and essentially dunked her entire body in a nearby stream D had assured them was safe.

Lilium was alone for now. Gela was sharing with Kaiou how he had lost his left arm shortly after arriving here, and had been fortunate to encounter an amazing craftsman who built prosthetics from living metals and magic. In return, Gela had basically spent the last month working for the blacksmith and being shown off as an example of the old man's craftsmanship. He had finally paid off his debt and decided to wander this strange and dangerous world. The arm was black, and covered in runes for protection and strength.

Tsukai had already shared this information with Lilium in the hours before dawn, when she had woken in the carriage and panicked. He had calmed her and told her what she had missed while cuddling with her. Nida had popped in and out as she supervised the grave-digging, rested, checked on the horses, and otherwise made herself useful.

Now, though, away from everyone else, Lilium felt like she was finally just feeling _her own_ emotions. It was a relief, and a curse, all at once. All she felt was pain. She couldn't help but feel her presence had been a distraction that allowed for Charlotte to be harmed. She ran her fingers over the string of pearls and crystals Meier had handed her, believing her to be Charlotte, and considered laying them on the grave. Eventually, she decided not to. Grave robbers would find and take it, anyway. She would keep it for now.

She felt D when he came up to her, footsteps silent in the grass. She didn't turn to him at first. She simply stood in the pale dawn light with him. When Lilium finally looked over to him, she found he was looking at her, watching her. She offered him a watery smile.

"Thank you. For… stopping him. And honestly, for getting Charlotte's body off of the wall, and letting us bury her."

"I needed something of hers to take back to her father."

Lilium's smile deepened and she laughed softly.

"You try to make yourself sound so stuffy, but you're not fooling me." She reached out and poked him in the arm. "You couldn't have left her up there either. It wasn't right."

D didn't respond, but the voice in his left hand couldn't help himself.

"Damn right it wasn't. We see a lot of nastiness in D's line of work, but these Markus buffoons really take the cake." D's fingers twitched once, but he seemed to resign himself to the carbuncle's remarks this time. "You fought him good, didn't you?" the voice suddenly asked, its tone quiet. Surprised, Lilium leaned forward and craned her neck to look at D's hand, then at D's face.

No one had really talked to her about it. Tsukai had distracted her, and Nida had offered her silent support. Until that moment, though, no one had asked her a direct question. Lilium was unsure how to respond. Finally, she just nodded once.

"Yeah. I fought him good. It took me twenty minutes to get my nails clean." She responded. She jumped a little when Left Hand laughed, then smiled. "I'm alive. That is what matters now." Lilium boldly slipped her arm through D's. "Will you be so kind as to walk me back to the carriage? I have no idea where my shoes went, and forest paths are awfully prickly."

D obliged her.

When the ragged band decided they were done with this god-forsaken place, they made their plans for the immediate future. Nolt left on a single horse, in the opposite direction from that of the others. D, Gela, Tsukai, Kaiou, Nida and Lilium would head toward Gaelin – where the whole rotten mess had begun for the four friends. D would accompany them before continuing on his way further West, to Charlotte's father's estate to report the unfortunate news of his daughter's death at the hands of the hunters his son had hired.

Mashira insisted on accompanying them, taking Lilium to safety being his final task for his deceased Master. He was her shadow the whole way, having been unable to protect her from Kyle Markus. If anything even remotely threatening neared, Mashira fought it off. Eventually, the beasts that would otherwise have assailed the traveling band finally figured out that the combination of a snarling Barbarois and deadly dhampir was just too much for any of them to handle.

The trip was surprisingly short. Gela had become familiar with the area and was able to lead them to shortcuts, and houses where friendly people were willing to offer assistance. They took some convincing when they saw the Noble's carriage in which Lilium rode and Nida drove, but when they found out the vampire was dead, they were impressed. A kindly old couple gave Lilium an old dress and some new shoes to wear when they learned she had no clothes.

They were all better fed and rested than they had been since the beginning of the adventure. When they arrived in Gaelin after only four days of travel (Mashira's presence helped immensely through the Barbarois territory), moods were lighter than they had been at that nightmarish fortress.

When the old innkeeper saw Lilium was saved and her friends were still alive, he welcomed them back and threw them a small celebratory dinner, insisting that it was the best excuse he'd had to have a party in years. "There's nau' much here t' celebrate."

When D readied to leave, Nida stopped him.

"Thank you for not cutting Lilium in half."

"… You're welcome."

Nida smirked and turned away, quite finished with him, and quite interested in the really tasty mozzarella-like cheese the innkeeper's wife had served them.

Lilium was waiting for him at the stable, petting the nose of his cyborg horse. She looked up at him, one hand resting on the horse's cheek.

"I suppose it's pretty cliché, the damsel in distress waiting to thank her dark knight for rescuing her again." She slipped her hands into the pockets on her borrowed skirt. "Don't worry, I'm not going to profess my love for you and beg you to stay. You're scarier than you are attractive." She poked him teasingly in the stomach before returning her hands to her pockets. Poking was sort of her thing. "Thank you, though. For saving me – more than once, even. Thank you for not killing me every time you had the chance. I know I'm annoying and naïve and such."

D nodded to her, then began saddling his horse and setting up his saddle bags. Lilium watched him in silence until he was finished adjusting the saddle and bridle. Once it was clear he was ready to leave, Lilium stepped into him and wrapped her arms around his torso in a gentle hug. He stood still, not stopping her, but not returning the hug. She shifted her arms and stretched up to wrap them around his neck.

"I'm so, so sorry," she whispered, standing on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek. "I wish there was something I, or anyone, could do for all that pain and anger you have inside. I don't think you would let them if they could, but that doesn't stop me from wishing. I'm naïve, but I'm not stupid." She hugged him again, her arms around his neck this time, cheek pressed against his. Something told her he didn't let people do this, but that part of him needed it. She wasn't sure if what she was doing would help him, hurt him, or just annoy him. Or perhaps he would shrug it off.

She felt that strange connection to him flicker a little, and something passed between them. Startled, she moved to disengage herself from him. His arms wrapped around her waist before she could move, and briefly, he returned the embrace. As he released her and moved away, his lips brushed hers. It couldn't really be called a kiss. She didn't have a word for it. It didn't make her tingle, or giddy. It was just… warm.

D turned away and mounted his horse. He looked down at her again, and she stared back, unsure of what had just transpired. He smiled gently – the slightest curve of his lips, barely visible.

"Be safe," D's soft voice caressed the twilight air, and he urged his mount forward. Lilium watched him go. She didn't wave. Waving was something you did when you expected to see someone again, she decided. When he was gone, she felt, curiously, like a piece of her own self had gone with him. But in its place there was a cool spot of darkness, wearing a dark cloak, and a black traveler's hat.

» » » » » » » » » » » » Ω « « « « « « « « « « « «

Mashira was the next to leave, stating he needed to return home and tell the elder of Caroline's demise. He had helped to see Lilium to safety and as such, his contract was fulfilled.

That evening, Nida, Kaiou, Tsukai, and Lilium settled down in the same room they had woken in some time ago. Gela had a room next door.

Instead of leaving Lilium to the bed by herself, Tsukai and Nida snuggled in with her. Kaiou was content with a cot near the bed. They were fed, their injuries (physical at least) were healed, and they were in clean nightclothes.

As sleep settled into the room, Nida's voice piped into the darkness of the night.

"Ask me a question."

"No," Lilium replied, yawning so largely her jaw popped. "I'll ask you all the questions you want tomorrow. Tonight… just… let me sleep."

She was out before Nida had a chance to protest. Since falling asleep was usually something Lilium had trouble doing, Nida decided to leave it at that for the evening.

One by one, the breathing of the four settled into sleep-mode.

And one by one, they were whisked away…

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When Nida opened her eyes, she blinked rapidly. The room was too bright. She didn't remember the room being so bright the day before. The white-painted walls were practically _glowing_ in the sun's light.

White walls.

Larger bed than she fell asleep in.

No pants (even though she'd reluctantly worn them to bed the night before).

Nida sat up quickly, disturbing the slumber of Lilium, who had thrown an arm over Nida's chest during the night. She looked around the room.

Bedside table with lamp and one with a stereo. Closet door in front of the bed. Rumpled sleeping bag on the floor between bed and closet. Kaiou – on the floor instead of in a cot.

What the frizzity whut?

Nida looked down at herself. She was wearing the shirt she'd been wearing when she fell asleep at her dad's house. She looked down at Lilium, who was rubbing her eyes and propping herself up on her forearm. Kitty pajamas.

This was Nida's dad's guest bedroom.

Wait.

If that was a dream, why was she in bed with Lil and Tsukai?

Kaiou cried out from the floor.

"Where the hell is my cot? And why am I not in the same room as I was when I fell asleep?! AGAIN?!"

Kaiou's angry outburst finally roused Tsukai, who sat up as quickly as Nida did when he realized something was off. Nida tossed the covers off and went to stand, dragging the sheet out to wrap around her waist as she moved. Something fell to the floor. She looked down and stared. It was a partially-smoked cigar. The same one she had taken from Borgov and been pretty much chewing on for the last several days.

Kaiou saw this, and her eyes met Nida's. Kaiou opened her hand. In it was a note written to her by Gela – his cell phone number and email address "should we ever make it home", he had teased her.

Tsukai stumbled out of bed and wobbled to the door.

"I… have to pee." He announced uncertainly, and opened the door. Nida looked at his spot on the bed. A single gold hoop earring. She had seen it on Grove's ear. She didn't say anything as Tsukai left the room and wandered down the hall to the bathroom.

Lilium was clearly confused, looking around the room in a daze. Tangled in her hair was the pearl and crystal string. Nida reached over and gently removed it from Lilium's hair. The girl looked back at her, alarmed. Unsure.

Nida sat on the bed, her legs covered with the sheet, as Lilium wriggled her way out of the covers and padded out of the room. Kaiou eventually stood and left as well. Nida finally stood again, and shuffled down the hall, sheet firmly wrapped around herself.

In the living room, her father sat on his chair, watching Lilium and Tsukai curiously. Kaiou rustled around the kitchen pulling a bag of Cheetos from the counter and a soda from the fridge. Lilium and Tsukai were looking at the TV. News was on. The weather, specifically. The day was displayed on the screen.

It was the very next day. It was as if they had fallen asleep and woken up at her dad's house. They hadn't been gone a month or so. It was like a dream.

But they all had tokens from the strange place they had travelled to. From their expressions and body language, they all knew what had happened, had happened. They couldn't explain it, and couldn't pinpoint the cause of it.

The day progressed like any other, albeit a little quieter and by far more tense than even the nights when Lilium and Tsukai argued over something trivial. Nida's dad asked her what was wrong, and she deflected his questions. This was normal for her, though, and so he didn't push his luck more than usual.

At the end of the day – Sunday – they all packed their things and piled into Nida's car. She dropped Tsukai off first, as his was the first stop on the way home, then Lilium. After Lilium and Tsukai were safely at home, Nida and Kaiou talked about what had happened. And what to do.

They agreed that if Tsukai and Lilium – arguably the two most traumatized of the lot, as Nida and Kaiou were both stronger mentally than the younger two – didn't want to talk about it, they wouldn't talk about it.

After she was dropped off at her house, Kaiou called the number Gela had given her. He answered. They spoke for several hours. Gela complained about needing to start wearing long-sleeved shirts and gloves everywhere, since there was no way he could explain his crazy new arm.

Nida went home, and returned to her normal schedule. As if nothing had happened.

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In her small room in her parent's house, Lilium Noir stared at the strand of pearls and crystals in her hand. She closed her eyes and reached inside herself, and there, hiding away, was that piece of cool darkness.

She had noticed the moment she entered her house she could _feel_ things that she couldn't before. She told her mom she wasn't feeling well and went to her room to hide.

Slowly, Lilium stood, and hid the strand of pearls in her jewelry box on the highest shelf in her room. Her fingers lingered briefly on the white box as she hesitated. She moved her hand away and stepped back slowly. Shaking her head, she rubbed her hands on her jeans and walked into the bathroom she shared with her parents.

Lilium looked hard at herself in the mirror. Her curly brown hair seemed a little longer, as if it boasted a month's growth. Other than that, nothing had changed, really, except something behind her eyes. Something intangible.

She decided to tell herself that it was a dream. She had vibrant, strange, frightening dreams before. If she worked at it, she would eventually forget the events of this dream, just as she had so many of the others.

She wandered down the stairs and into the small family room where she settled on the couch and gazed absently at the television. Her mom and dad acknowledged her and let her know they would be running to the store to get something for dinner. She smiled at them and responded, and even as the words left her lips, she felt a thrill of déjà vu.

"Be safe."

~fin~

Author's Note:

Is it really okay to tell yourself it was a dream? What will happen when you're forced to face the reality that you spent years trying to forget?

Find out in the (completely unanticipated) sequel, coming soon, to a computer screen near you….


End file.
